it,  with  an  oven,  in  which,  according  to  the  custom  of  I  he
country,  they  dried  chestnuts,  filberts,  and  other  fruits,
which  they  wished  to  preserve  for  winter  use ;  using  as
fuel,  when  they  could  find  no  other,  pieces  cut  with  a
hatchet  from  the  interior  of  the  tree.  In  Brydone's  time,
in  1770,  this  tree  measured  two  hundred  and  four  feet  in
circumference.  He  says  it  had  the  appearance  of  five
distinct  trees  ;  but  he  was  assured  that  the  space  was  once
filled  with  solid  timber,  and  there  was  no  bark  on  the
inside.  This  circumstance  of  an  old  trunk,  hollow  in  the
interior,  becoming  separated  so  as  to  have  the  appearance
of  being  the  remains  of  several  distinct  trees,  is  frequently
met  with  in  the  case  of  very  old  mulberry  trees  in  Great
Britain,  and  olive  trees  in  Italy.  Kircher,  about  a  century
before  Brydone,  affirms  that  an  entire  flock  of  sheep  might
be  inclosed  within  the  Etna  chestnut,  as  in  a  fold.*  (Ar-
boretum Brit.  p.  1988.)

*  One  of  the  most  celebrated  Chestnut  trees  on  record,  is  that  called  the
Tortworth  Chestnut,  in  England.  In  1772,  Lord  Ducie,  the  owner,  had  a
portrait  of  it  taken,  which  was  accompanied  by  the  following  description :
**  The  east  view  of  the  ancient  Chestnut  tree  at  Tortworth,  ix^  the  county  oi
Gloucester,  which  measures  nineteen  yards  in  circumference,  and  is  mentioned
by  Sir  Robert  Aikins  in  his  history  of  that  county,  as  a  famous  tree  in  King
John's  reign :  and  by  Mr.  Evelyn  in  his  Sylva,  to  have  been  so  remarkable  in
the  reign  of  King  Stephen,  1135,  as  then  to  bo  called  the  great  Chestnut  of
Tortworth ;  from  which  it  may  reasonably  be  presumed  to  have  been  standing
before  the  Conquest,  1066."     This  tree  is  still  standing.
