"The Danes register'd their more considerable transactions upon Rocks; or on parts of them, hewen into various Shapes and Figures. On these they engrav'd such Inscriptions as were proper for their Heathen Alters, Triumphal Arches, Sepulchral Monuments and Genealogical Histories of their Ancestors. Their writings of less concern (as Letters, Almanacks, &c.) were engraven upon Wood: And because Beech was most plentiful in Demnark, (tho Firr and Oak be so in Norway and Sweden) and most commonly employ'd in these Services, form the word Bog (which in their Language is the Name of that sort of Wood) they and all other Northern Nations have the Name of Book. The poorer sort used Bark; and the Horns of Rain- Deer and Elks were often finely polish'd and shaped into Books of several Leaves. Many of these old Calendars are likewise upon Bones of Beasts and Fishes: But the Inscriptions on Tapestry, Bells, Parchment and Paper, are of later use. "Some other Monuments may be known to be of a Danish Extraction, tho they carry nothing of a Runic Inscription. Few of their Temples were cover'd; and the largest observ'd by Wormius (at Kialernes in Island) was 120 foot in length, and 60 in breadth. "The next Monument of Age is their Edda Islandorum; the meaning of which Appellation they that publish the Book hardly pretend to understand. As far as I can give the Reader any satisfaction, he is to. know that Island was first inhabited (in the year 874) by a Colony of Norwegians; who brought hither the Traditions of their Forefathers, in certain metrical Composures, which (as is usual with Men transplanted into a Foreign Land) were here more zealously and carefully preserv'd and kept in memory than by the Men of Norway themselves. About 240 years after this (A. D. 1114) their History began to be written by one Saemund, surnam'd Frode or the wise; who (in nine years' travel through Italy, Germany and England) had amass'd together a mighty Collection of Historical Treatises. With these he return'd full fraught into Island; where he also drew up an account of the affairs of his own Country. Many of his Works are now said to be lost: But there is still an Edda, consisting of several Odes (whence I suspect its Name is derived) written by many several hands, and at different times, which bears his Name. The Book is a Collection of Mythological Fables, relating to the ancient State and Behaviour of the Great Woden and his followers, in terms poetical and adapted to the Service of those that were employ'd in the composure of their old Rhymes and Sonnets.