92 HISTORICAL NOTICE OF CELEBRATED TREES. [JuxVe 



give to the Cypress of ]\Iontezuma the age of about seven centuries, 

 and would render that at Oaxaca about as old as the commencement 

 of the Christian era. lUit old trunks, we have already observed, in- 

 crease much more slowly as they advance in age, so that the rate of 

 growth assigned can in no way apply to them. Indeed there can be 

 no doubt but a much higher antiquity must be assigned to them, 

 and therefore the trees of Atlisco and Sante Maria del Tule can 

 scarcely, as De Candolle remarks, be less than 4000 years old, and 

 may possibly be nearer GOOO. It is to be regretted that no 

 traveller has made one or more lateral incisions into one of these old 

 trees, which might be done without injury to its vitality, and thus 

 the actual growth for a few of the last centuries could be ascertained. 

 This, combined with the growth of a young tree, would afford much 

 better data than we have at present for these, some of which 

 probably date their existence as far back as the actual creation of the 

 world. 



The classical Cypress, Cuprcssus scmpcrvircns, belongs to the same 

 genus as the last. The variety wdiich is called the common or 

 spreading Cypress, is a valuable timber tree, the wood being supposed 

 to be the most durable, superior even to that of the cedar. The 

 doors of St. Peter's Church at Rome, which had been formed of this 

 material in the time of Constantine, showed no symptom of decay 

 when, after the lapse of 1000 years. Pope Eugenius IV. took them 

 down to replace them by gates of brass. The Athenians buried the 

 remains of their heroes in coffins of cypress, and the chests or 

 coffins in which Egyptian mummies are found, are frequently of this 

 timber. For building there is none superior, as it is almost as 

 durable as stone itself. It has always been a favourite in gardens, 

 and is reputed to be one of the longest lived trees of southern Europe 

 and of the East. Hunter, in his edition of Evelyn, about a century 

 ago, mentions the fine avenue of cypresses, M'hich bear the name of 

 the " Cypresses of the Queen Sultana," in allusion to an anecdote 

 relative to a Sultana who was accused of having made an assignation 

 under them with an Abencerage, in consequence of which, according 

 to the legend, thirty-six princes of that race were massacred. They 

 are, indeed, well known to have been in the garden in the reign of 

 Andelii, the last of the Moorish kings, i^ow the Moors were 

 expelled from Spain in 1492, and according to Mr. Webb, who 

 visited them in 1831, these enduring memorials of frailty and 

 revenge are still flourishing. Well, supposing tliem to have been only 

 forty or fifty years old at the occurrence of the event to wliich they 

 owe their celebrity, they have now reached the age of about 400 

 years, but in all probability they are nuich older. Of these trees 

 I am not aware that there exist any authentic measurements, but they 



