That they were of very substantial size
when David danced before the Ark, when
Solomon laid, tho foundations of the Eom
ph, when Theseus ruled in Athens, when
zFueas fled from the burning wreck and
vanquished Troy, when Sesotris led his
vicioriuus Egyptians into the heart of Asia
I have no ru inner of doubt.
In measuring trees, it is so easy to ex
aggerate by running your line around the
roots, rather than the real body, and I
place little dependence on the reported
and recorded measurements of parties un
der no obligations to preserve a judicial
impartiality. But I believe a fair meas
uremertof the largest trees standing in
this grove, would liiatte not less than one
hundred fed in circumference, and over
thirty feet in diameter, at a bight of six
feet from their respective bases, and that
several of them hate an altitude of more
than 300 feet. I believe the one that was
last uprooted me«*oured a little over thrie
hundred.
Th6y arfe of course not all of extraor
dinary size, yet I cannot remember one
that would girth so little as twenty feet
at a bight of two yards from earth’s
surface,which is the proper point for hori-
zontal measurement. Hardly one is en
tirely free from the marks of fire at its
root," while several have been burned half
through, and are so hollowed by fire that
a treeheight feet in diameter would prob
ably find ample room ir» its cavity. And,
while many are still hale and thrifty, 1 did
not perceive a single young one coming
forward to take the place of the decaying
patriarchs.
