272 The Absence of Trees from Prairies. [June, 



the tree to undergo a similar change, and thus destroy the work of a 

 century. It is somewhat different with the herbaceous plants which are 

 renewed every season. The evils which they experience from a long 

 drought are confined to the season in which it occurs ; and these tran- 

 sitory occupants of the soil feel none of the calamities which a dry season 

 may have inflicted on their predecessors. 



An examination of the several instances of extraordinary longevity in 

 trees, will show how much the health and durability of their wood is 

 promoted by the frequency of rains. They always attain the greatest 

 age in islands, in maritime districts, or in the vicinity of high moun- 

 tains ; and in a word, in all regions where rains are of frequent occur- 

 rence and long droughts rarely interrupt the elaboration of the sap. The 

 oldest monuments of the vegetable kingdom now living in the Old World, 

 are to be found in Great Britain, in the Island of Teneriffe, in Sicily, on 

 the coast of Africa, and on the highlands near the Syrian coast. The 

 cedars of Lebanon are said to have stood since the Christian Era, and 

 many of the oaks and yew trees of England, are said to have attained an 

 equally advanced age. A dragon tree, in the Island of Teneriffe, and 

 the celebrated horse-chestnut on Mount iEtna, present still greater 

 examples of longevity ; especially the latter, which is said to measure 

 one hundred and eighty feet in circumference at the base. It is said 

 that this tree consists of five trunks ; but, even on this supposition, it 

 must have required over thirty or forty centuries to attain its present 

 gigantic dimensions. The age of a tree growing near the mouth of the 

 river Senegal, in Africa, has been estimated at over five thousand years. 



India is equally celebrated for the frequency of its rains and the ven- 

 erable age of several of its trees. It is said that the banyan tree which 

 sheltered the soldiers of Alexander, is still living ! Among the vegetable 

 giants of the New World, the cypress of Oanica and that of Chepultipec, 

 are the most celebrated ; and California has produced many trees which 

 rival them in age. But it is the forest of G-uiana, situated in the zone 

 of almost constant rains, that affords the greatest numbers of these 

 patriarchs of the vegetable kingdom, notwithstanding the influence of 

 a warm climate in promoting decay. 



Lands which are subject to long droughts, either in consequence of 

 their distance from the sea, and absence of mountains, or other causes, 

 afford no examples of great arboreal longevity. European Eussia, is a 

 vast plain, not materially differing from the western prairies ; and like 

 them, it occasionally suffers much from a long continuance of dry weather. 

 This condition of things affects, in a very conspicuous manner, the dura_ 

 tion of vef^etable life. Notwithstanding the vast extent of the Kussian 



