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KERGUELEN’S VOYAGE TO THE NORTH. 749
Brimftone is met with both in the plains and mountains. It is difcovered by the
vapours rifing from the earth, and in the vicinity of hot fprings. It is always covered
with a ftratum of flime, or fand. It is of different colours, white, yellow, green, red,
‘and blue. It is not neceflary to dig lower than three or four feet to find exceeding good
fulphur. ‘Thofe places are preferred where there are fmall eminences at the fummit of
which is a focus by which a hot vapour exhales. At a fhort diftance from the eminence
fulphur is met with in {mall detached lumps, but it is under the eminence itfelf that it is
found the moft compaét and in the greateft quantity. The workmen who dig the ful-
phur mines, take efpecial care to envelop their fhoes with coarfe woollen rags, in order
to preferve their feet from the heat; in tact the brimftone, when frefh brought from the
mine, is fo hot, that it isimpoflible to keep it in the hand.
M. Horrebow criticifes M. Anderfon upon his faying that no wood is found on the
ifland ; he then gives an account of two or three forefts which he afirms are more than
halfa league in circumference. For my part I never faw any wood, and have been
told that there is none other than brambles and fmall bufhes, fuch as thorns and juniper :
but nature, always beneficent, makes up this deficiency by the prodigious quantity of
wood which the fea throws on fhore in feveral parts of the ifland. On the coa{ts where
this advantage is wanting the inhabitants make their fires of turf, and the refufe of fith,
dipped in oil made from cods’ liver. In many places old roots are dragged from the
ground, which proves that the ifland was formerly covered with wood.
M. Olave fhewed me pieces of a fingular kind of wood found in fand, and at times
in the midft of ftones. This wood, to which he gave the Latin name of /ignum foffile, is
black, heavy, and refembles ebony. ‘The Icelanders call it /chwartzen brand, black
brand. It is found both in broad and narrow pieces, and always among rocks fur-
rounding it. This wood, ifit be wood, deferves the particular attention of naturalifts.
I give here the fubftance of what M. Olave fays of it in one of his letters. “* Some per-
fons rank foffil wood among the clafs of petrefa€tions, but improperly, perhaps owing
to their not having feen it itfelf. The nature of it, in which it bears refemblance to
wood, of fplitting, being cut, and receiving a fine polifh, fufficiently proves the contrary.
Neverthelefs this foffil genus is not wood, nor vegetable, fince it does not poflefs proper
veflels for the reception of alimentary juices, nor either throws out roots below, or
fpreads its branches above the earth. It is called black brand by the Icelanders. It
thru(ts itfelf from the fiflures of dirty rocks, either abounding in bark, or for the moft
part earthy ; on the infide it is curious for its very fine grain, which runs in the courfe
of its length ; in its moft internal part, where moft perfect, it is wavy, and does not yield
toebony. Hence it is turned by the inhabitants of the towns into ftands for cafkets,
tables, &c. Heavier than any other wood it finks in water, is not liable to rot, nor
eafy to be confumed by fire, burning like earth. In its fub{tance it bears refemblance to
wood, in its origin to minerals; whence can it be that in Iceland, where it was firft pro-
duced it fhould be fo long unknown, and its nature for fo long a time be unexplored ?
How comes it that a matter fo curious has not been thought worthy the trouble of more |
diligent enquiry ?”? The reader may not be difpleafed with my producing this fragment
of a letter which may ferve to make him acquainted with the nature of this foflil wood,
A botanift would find much to obferve in Iceland. I fhall not detail the numerous
falutary plants which the earth produces in Jarge quantities, many of them unknown in
France; thefe matters are not in my way, but I could not refrain noticing, while I ad-
mired the wife bounty of Providence, that thofe fimples the moft neceflary to the in-
habitants were the moft common, fuch as garlick, forreland cochlearia ; excellent pre-
fervatives againft the {curvy, which is the moft prevalent malady of the country. An-
5c 2 gelica
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