392 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND OOTTAQB QAKDENER 



( May 20, 1875 



immeutely grand tree, I shall here state the dimensions of 

 the largest I could find among several that had been blown 

 down by the wind. At 3 feet from the ground its circum- 

 ference is 57 feet 9 inches; at 134 feet, 17 feet 5 inches; the 

 extreme length 245 feet. The trunks are uncommonly straight, 

 and the bark remarkably smooth for such large timber, of a 

 whitish or light-brown colour, and yielding a great quantity 

 of bright amber gum. The tallest stems are generally un- 

 branchcd for two-thirds of the height of the tree ; the branches 

 rather jiendulous, with cones hanging from their points like 

 Eugar-loaves in a grocer's shop. These cones, are, however, 

 only seen on the loftiest trees, and the putting myself in pos- 



session of three of these (all I could obtain), nearly brought 

 ray life to a close. As it was impossible either to climb the 

 tree or hew it down, I endeavoured to knock off the cones by 

 firing at them with ball, when the report of my gun brought 

 eight Indians, all of them painted with red earth, armed with 

 bows, arrows, bone-tipped spears, and flint-knives. They ap- 

 peared anything but friendly. I endeavoured to explain to 

 them what I wanted, and they seemed satisfied, and sat down 

 to smoke, but presently I perceived one of them string his 

 bow, and another sharpen his flint-knife with a pair of wooden 

 pincers, and suspend it on the wrist of the right hand. Further 

 testim^nv of their intentions was unnecejsary. To save myself 



Fi,'. ill.— Bases or iwo of ihe trees. 



by flight WBB impossible, so, without hesitation, I stepped 

 back about five paces, cocked my gun, drew one of the pistols 

 out of my belt, and holding it in my left hand and the gun in 



Fig. 95.— Cone ol ^Velliligtuuia gigantea. 



my right, showed myself determined to fight for my life. As 

 much as possible I endeavoured to preserve my coolness, and 

 thus we stood looking at one another without making any 

 movement or uttering a word for perhaps ten minutes, when 

 one at last, who seemed the leader, gave a sign that they 

 wished for some tobacco : this I signified that they should 

 have if they fetched me a quantity of cones. They went off 

 immediately in search of them, and no sooner were they all 

 out of sight than I picked up my three cones and some twigs 

 of the trees, and made the quickest possible retreat, hurrying 

 back to my camp, which I reached before dusk. The Indian 

 who last undertook to be my guide to the trees I sent off 

 before gaining my encampment lest he should betray me. 

 How irksome is the darkness of night to one under my present 



ch'cumstauces I I cannot speak a word to my guide, nor have 

 I a book to divert my thoughts, which are continually oc- 

 cupied with the dread lest the hostile Indians should trace me 

 hither and make an attack ; I now write lying on the grass 

 with my gun cocked beside me, and penning these lines by the 

 light of my Columbian candle — namely, an ignited piece of 

 rosiny wood." 



As a standard of comparison we remind our readers that the 

 London Monument is 202 feet high, so that the Wellingtonias 

 are higher than that by more than from 80 to 90 feet. 



The following list of the synonymes and botanical description 

 of the tree we copy from " Gordon's Piuetum " — " Wellingtonia 

 gigantea, Lindley ; Sequoia gigantea, EndUcher : S. Welling- 

 tonia, Seemann : Washingtonia gigantea, of tlw Americans; 

 W. Californica, IVimluw ; Americanus giganteus, Hort. Amer. ; 

 Taxodii,sp.,lio»(7 /as; Taxodium Washingtonianum, inns/oic. 

 Leaves needle-shaped, spirally alternate, spreading, persistent, 

 and of a light green colour on the young plants ; those on the 

 adult trees scale-formed, closely inlaid, rounded on the back 

 and concave on the inner face ; those on the branchlets much 

 shorter, very close, and regularly imbricated ; those on the 

 larger branches longer, looser, decurrent at the base, and 

 tapering to an acute point, but sometimes rather obtuse. 

 Branches spread out horizontal, much divided, and furnished 

 with numerous laterals. Branchlets cylindrical, frequently 

 pendulous, and thickly covered with light-green glaucous 

 i foliage, cone-bearing ones slightly thickened and entirely 

 1 covered with scale-formed leaves closely imbricated, the upper 

 ones oval, and broadest at the base. Cones solitary on the 

 ends of the branchlets, 2 inches long, and more than 1 inch in 

 diameter, ovate, blunt-ended, and slightly tipering towards 

 both extremities. Scales in series, placed nearly at right angles 

 upon the axis of the cone, stipitate, thickened, and enlaiged 

 from the point of insertion as far as the summit, which is 

 depressed and wrinkled on the external face, and furnished 

 with a small prickle in the centre of the little hollow. Seeds 

 from three to five under each scale, but mostly five. Seed 

 leaves from three to six in number, but mostly in fours. 



" According to Mr. G. L. Trask, who formerly exhibited a 

 portion of the bark set up in the Crystal Palace to show the 

 great size this tree attains in its native state, gives the follow- 

 ing as the dimeueious of one of the largest of eighty trees, 

 growing in a grove at San Antonio — viz., height, 303 feet ; 

 circumference near the ground, 93 feet; circumference 100 feet 

 from the ground, 45 feet; bark, IS inches thick ; age accord- 

 ing to annual rings, from 3000 to 4000 years. 



