146 THE VAST. 



and lias been fitted up for theatrical performances and 

 balls, affording ample room for thirty-two dancers. The 

 bark was removed for a certain length, and being put 

 up symmetrically, as it originally subsisted, constituted 

 a large room, furnished with a carpet, a piano, and seats 

 for forty persons. In this state it was exhibited in various 

 cities of America and Europe. 



So successful was this speculation, that another hero 

 of the Barnum tribe proceeded to sej)arate the entire bark 

 from the " Mother of the Forest," to a height of one hun- 

 dred and sixteen feet, removing it in sections, carefully 

 marked and numbered, for future reconstruction. It is 

 this trophy which has been exhibited in London, first in 

 Newman Street, and afterwards at the Adelaide Gallery. 

 These buildings, however, would not admit of the erection 

 of the whole, so that it was removed in 1856 to the Crys- 

 tal Palace, where it now delights the eyes of thousands 

 daily. 



Perhaps we can scarcely regret the removal and trans- 

 port of these relics, especially as it is said the "Mother" 

 has not been perceptibly injured in health by the abstrac- 

 tion of her outer garment. Yet it is a matter of congra- 

 tulation that 2)ecuniary avidity will no further diminish 

 this noble grove, for the law has now prohibited the 

 injury of any more trees, on any pretence whatever.* 



All these are the mighty works of an Almighty God ; 

 not self-produced, as some would fain assure us, by the 



* This account is chiefly condensed from a memoir by Dr Berthold 

 Seemann, F.L.S., in the Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist, for March 1859. 



