192 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
than the cypress of Atlixco, to which I have already made 
reference, and thicker than the dragon trees of the Canary 
Islands and all of the baobab (Adansoniae) in Africa. Mr. 
Anza, in making a detailed investigation of this trunk, 
found that it was not a single trunk, but is made up of three 
united trunks.” At the time of his visit Humboldt inserted 
a square board into the side of the trunk, about 12 feet above 
the ground, cutting a shallow hole in the outer part of the 
tree for that purpose. This board bore a Spanish inscrip- 
tion, a copy of which does not seem to have been recorded. 
Dr. Gray, in his charming essay on “The Longevity of 
Trees,” refers to this tree as follows: ‘We possess three in- 
dependent measurements of this enormous trunk. The first 
is that given by Humboldt, who states, probably on the 
authority of his informant, M. Anza, that the trunk is 36 
metres (118 English feet) in circumference. -In the year 
1827, Mr. Poinsett, then our minister at the court of Mexico, 
transmitted to the American Philosophical Society at Phila- 
delphia a cord which represented the exact circumference of 
this tree. Its extraordinary length naturally excited some 
doubts as to the correctness of the measurement; and im- 
mediate application was made to Mr. Poinsett for further 
particulars. He accordingly transmitted a communication 
from Mr. Exter, an English traveler who had just returned 
from Oaxaca, and who had carefully examined the tree in 
question. r. Exter’s letter was afterwards published in 
Loudon’s ‘Magazine of Natural History’; and a French — 
translation, accompanied by some interesting comments by 
the younger De Candolle, appeared in the ‘Bibliotheque Uni- 
verselle’ for 1831.. According to Mr. Exter’s measurement, 
the trunk is 46 varas—one hundred and twenty-two English 
feet—in circumference; which is nearly in accordance with 
Humboldt’s account. In neither case is the height at which 
the trunk was measured expressly mentioned. But this point 
has been duly attended to by a recent scientific observer, M. 
Galeotti, who visited this celebrated tree in 1839 and in 1840, 
and whose careful measurement gives to the trunk the cir- 
cumference of 105 French (equal to 112 English) feet, at 
the height of four feet above the surface of the soil. The 
previous measurements, therefore, were. taken somewhat 
nearer the base. The tree as yet shows no signs of decay, 
although it bears less foliage in proportion to its size than 
its younger fellows. But we find no authority for Mr. Exter’s 
statement, that this tree was mentioned by Cortes, and that 
its shade once afforded shelter to his whole European army. 
Perhaps he had in some way confounded it in his —t 
with a cypress which the Conquistador passed on the m 
