OF FORES T-T REE S. 1x7

In the mean Time, to put an End to the various Conjectures, con-CHAP.III.cerning the Causes of so many Trees being found submergs d , for themost Part attributed to the Destruction made by the No at ic k Inundat ion ;after all has been said of what was found in the Level of Hat fie Id(drain’d at the never to be forgotten Charge and Industry of Sir Corne-lius Vermuiden ) I think there will need no more Enquiry : For therewas difcover’d Trees not only of Fir and Fitch , but of very goodlyOaks, even to the Length of one hundred Foot, which were fold at fifteenFounds the Tree, black and hard as Ebony ; all their Roots remainingin the Soil, and their natural Posture, with their Bodies prostrate bythem, pointing for the most Part North-East : And of such therefeem’d to be Millions, of all the usual Species natural to this Country,found and firm Ash only excepted, which were become so rotten andsoft, as to be frequently cut through with the Spade only ; whereasWillows , and other tender Woods , continued very found and entire : Ma-ny of these subterranean Trees of all Sorts, were found to have beencut and burnt down, fquar’d and converted for several Uses, into Boards,

Fales, Stakes , Files, Bars, Stc. Some Trees half riven, with theWedges sticking in them ; broken Axe-heads in Shape of sacrificingInstruments , and frequently several Coins of the Emperor Vespa-sian, Stc. There was among others, one prodigious Oak of one hun-dred and twenty Foot in Length, and twelve in Diameter, ten Foot inthe Middle, and six at the small End; so, as by Computation, this Mon-ster must have been a great deal longer, and for this Tm* was offeredtwenty Founds. The Truth and History of all this is so perfectly de-ferib’d by Mr. Alan. de la Fryme (inserted among the Transactionsof the Royal Society ) that there needs no more to be said of it toevince , that not only here , but in other Places, where such Trees arcfound in the like Circumstances, that it has been the Work and Effectsof vast Armies of the Romans , when finding they could not with alltheir Force subdue the barbarous Inhabitants, by reason of their conti-nual issuing out of those intricate Fortresses and Impediments, theycaused whole Forests to be cut down by their Legions and Soldiers,whom they never fuffer’d to remain idle during their Winter Quarters,

' but were continually exercised in such publick and useful Works, as re-quired Multitude of Hands ; by which Discipline they became hardy,active, and less at Leisure to mutiny, or corrupt one another. I do notaffirm that this answers all submerged Trees, but of very many imputedto other Causes.

But we shall enquire farther concerning these subterranean Produc-tions anon, and whether the Earth, as well as the W have not theVirtue of strange Transmutations . These Trees are found in Moors,by poking with Staves of three or four Foot length, food with Iron .

13. In Scotland many submerged Oaks are found near the RiverNejfie ; and (as we noted) there is a most beautiful Sort of Fir, or ra-ther Fine, bearing small sharp Cones (some think it the Spanijh Fmas-ter) growing upon the Mountains ; of which, from the late Marquisof Ar gyle, I had sent me some Seeds, which 1 have sown with tolera-ble Success'; and I prefer them before any other, because they grow bothvery erect and fixing themselves stoutly, need little, or no Support.

Near Loughbruth 'twixt the Lough and an Hill , they grow in suchQuantity, that from the spontaneous Fall, Ruin and Decay of the Treeslying cross one another to a Man’s Height, partly covered with Mojse ,

and