Chap. So.] THE AGE OP TREES. 429 



veneer for covering others, are the citrus, the terebinth, the 

 different varieties of the maple, the box, the palm, 55 the holly, 

 the holm-oak, the root of the elder, and the poplar. The alder 

 furnishes also, as already stated, 54 a kind of tuberosity, which 

 is cut into layers like those of the citrus and the maple. In 

 all the other trees the tuberosities are of no value whatever. 

 It is the central part of trees that is most variegated, and' the 

 nearer we approach to the root the smaller are the spots and 

 the more wavy. It was in this appearance that originated 

 that requirement of luxury which displays itself in covering 

 one tree with another, and bestowing upon the more common 

 woods a bark of higher price. In order to make a single 

 tree sell many times over, laminae of veneer have been de- 

 vised ; but that was not thought sufficient — the horns of ani- 

 mals^must next be stained of different colours, and their teeth 

 cut into sections, in order to decorate wood with ivoiy, and, 

 at a later period, to veneer it all over. Then, after all this, man 

 must go and seek his materials in the sea as well ! Tor this 

 purpose lie has learned to cut tortoise-shell into sections ; and 

 of late, in the reign of Nero, there was a monstrous invention 

 devised of destroying its natural appearance by paint, and 

 making it sell at a still higher price by a successful imitation 

 of wood. 



It is in this way that the value of our couches is so greatly 

 enhanced ; it is in this way, too, that they bid the rich lustre of 

 the terebinth to be outdone, a mock citrus to be made that 

 shall be more valuable than the real one, and the grain of the 

 maple to be feigned. At one time luxury was not content 

 with wood ; at the present day it sets us on buying tortoise- 

 shell in the guise of wood. 



CHAP. 85. (44.) — THE AGE OF TREES. A ^TREE THAT WAS 

 PLANTED BY THE EIEST SCIPIO AFRICANTJS. A TREE AT 

 ROME EIVE HUNDRED TEARS OLD. 



The life of some trees might really be looked upon as of 

 infinite 50 duration, if we only think of the dense wilds and 



53 It is singular Eee says, to find the wood of the palm, and that of the 

 poplar, which are destitute of veins, enumerated amon<? those employed for 

 veneering. 54 j n c . 27 



55 According to Adanson, the baobab will live" for more than six thou- 

 sand years. 



