1885.] 



THE GIANTS OF CHAPULTEPEC. 



167 



THE GIANTS OF CHAPULTEPEC. 



THIS grove of the Taxodium Mexicanum, the Moatezuma cypress, 

 one of which measures 99 feet in circumference at its base, 

 takes one back to tlie early days of Mexico, when Cortez, the 

 Spanish conqueror, arrived. For Chapultepec, " the grasshoppers' 

 hill," was the royal residence of Montezuma, the Aztec king, who 

 mnst have often walked amongst what were even then ancient giants 

 of the forest. 



The grove is situated about two miles from the city of Mexico, 

 in the great plain of Mexico, and in view of the gigantic volcanoes. 



Popocatapetl and Iztaccihuatl, the first of which is 10,326 feet 

 above the great valley which stands close on 7400 feet above the 

 level of the sea. 



Many of the branches appear almost trees themselves, while the 

 trunks, though surpassed in height in the Yosemite Valley or in the 

 Eucalypt forests of Australia, must take rank among the big trees of 

 the world. Both trunks and branches are covered over with what is 

 called hai-ba cspanola, or Spanish beard. A crystal fountain of water 

 wells np amongst the grove, and its product is conveyed by special 

 pipe to the city for drinking purposes. 



Packard Smith & Co. have been able to cultivate this variety of 

 Taxodium at their St. John's Nursery. 



