NOTICES OF BOOKS, 349 
Under the head of “ Proceedings” we find the following interesting 
letter, addressed to Joseph Milligan, Esq., the very zealous and in- 
telligent secretary, on some gigantie native trees. 
* New Town Parsonage, near Hobart Town, March 19, 1849. 
* I went last week to see a very large tree, or rather two very large 
ones, that I had heard of since 1841, but which were not re-discovered 
until Monday last. As they are two of the largest, if not the largest 
irees ever measured, I have determined to send yon an account of them, 
in order that a record may be preserved in any future publication of the 
Royal Society. "They are within three-quarters of a mile of each other, 
on a small stream, tributary to the North-west Bay River, pretty far up 
on the ridge which separates its waters from those of Brown's River. 
They are easily reached from the Huon footpath, and are in a beautiful 
vale of Sassafras and Tree-ferns, and not in an inaccessible gully, like most 
of our gigantic trees. I have never before seen the Tree-ferns growing 
in such luxurianee, bending over the stream like enormous cornucopias. 
The fire has never reached them, as they and the forest around them 
plainly show; and every here and there you are puzzled on seeing a 
Sassafras-tree with a root on either side; one in particular forming a 
natural arch, underneath which you can walk. And it was some time 
before I could tell how it was ever possible for the tree to have grown 
there, until, on looking further, I perceived that the Sassafras must 
have originally sprung from seed lodged in the bark of some Swamp- . 
gum that had fallen across the brook, and as it grew it gradually sent 
out, roots along the trunk, until they met ¿erra firma. The trunk 
having in the course of ages decayed, has left the Sassafras-tree in 
the odd position in which we now see it. I say so much before I give 
you the measurements. I am sure the whole scene would amply repay _ 
you for the trouble of a ride. In addition to the giants below, there _ 
are, I feel confident, within a mile, at least a hundred trees of 40 feet —— 
in circumference. One, about forty yards from the biggest, was 60 feet 
at 4 feet from the ground, and at 130 feet must have been fully 40 
feet in circumference : it was without buttresses, but went up one solid 
massive column, without the least symptom of decay. A Silver Wattle 
was 120 fect high and 6 feet round. In fact, we named it the Vale of 
Giants, for puny indeed did men appear alongside these vegetable 
wonders. The largest we measured was, at 3 feet from the ground, 
102 feet in circumference, and at the ground 130 feet, We had no 
