a thin kind of fir-planks, of great use in carpentry. They are formed by sawing the trunk of a tree into a great many longitudinal divisions, of more or less thickness according to the purposes they are intended to serve.

A very good method of seasoning planks of deal and fir is to throw them into salt water as soon as they are sawed, and keep them there three or four days, frequently turning them: in this case they will be rendered much harder, by drying afterwards in the air and sun: but neither this, nor any other method yet known, will prevent them from shrinking.

Rods of deal expand gradually, or cross the grain, in moist weather, and contract again in dry; and thence have been found to make an useful hygrometer.

a town of Kent in England, lying between Dover and Sandwich, in E. Long. 1. 20. N. Lat. 51. 16. is supposed to be the Dola of Nennius, and is situated on a flat and level coast. This town, according to Dr Campbell, justifies an observation he had made in favour of situations of this kind, viz. that they are less liable than others to be injured by the sea. The town of Deal, as far as we are able to judge, except it may be the sea's sinking a little from it, is in much the same condition in which it ever was, even from the earliest accounts. The learned Dr Halley has proved, Miscellanea Curiosa, vol. iii. p. 426. that Julius Caesar landed here, August 26th, the year before the coming of Christ 55.—The great convenience of landing has been of infinite service to the place: so that it is large and populous, divided into the upper and lower towns, adorned with many fair buildings, and is in effect the principal place in the Downs.