me of the Courts of Judicature, both Spiritual and Temporal, and the Puniſhments decreed for Offenders in this Iſland; I shall proceed to ſay ſomething of the Place itſelf, which may be called, properly enough, a rocky mountainous Deſart; little Space being leſt for either Arable or Paſture, and nothing of a Wood or Foreſt in the whole Iſland. You may ride many Miles and ſee nothing but a Thorn-Tree, which is either fenced round, or ſome other Precaution taken, that ſo great a Rarity ſhall receive no Prejudice. Hedges they have none, but what are made with Clay; but as they have great Quantity of Fern and Goſs, that ſerves them to bake their Bread with inſtead of Wood.
Yet, notwithſtanding the preſent Scarcity of Timber, the Natives tell you, it was once a very woody Country; inſomuch that Peel, which was originally called Pile Caſtle, took its Name from being at firſt no more than a huge Pile of Logs of Wood, laid in ſo regular a Manner, as to form diſtinct Apartments, and make it a Dwelling-Place. But this is ſuppoſed to be before the Flood, and if
we
