i 
GLEANINGS AND ORIGINAL MEMORANDA. 
39 
forming 
And it was some time before I coiild tell Iiow Jt 
. . ,, " ; " "'"'^ e^""" ""^re, uniii, on looKing turther, 1 perceived that the sassafi 
or.g.nally sprung from seed lodged in the bai-k of some swamp gum that had ?aUen across the hroT 
It gradually sent out roots along the trunk until they met terra fmm. The trunk 
havmg, m the course of ages, decayed, has left the sassafras tree in the odd position 
m which we now see it. I say so much before I give you the measurement. I am 
sure the whole scene would amply repay you for the trouble of a ride ; in addition 
to the giants below, there are, I feel confident, within a mile, at least a hundred trees 
of 40 feet m circumference. One, about forty yards from the biggest, was 60 feet at 
four feet from the ground, and, at a hundred and thirty, must have been fully 40 feet in 
circumference ; it waa without buttresses, but went up one solid massive column, 
without the least symptom of decay. A silver wattle was 1 20 feet high, and 6 feet round. 
In fact, we named it the Yale of Giant,, for puny indeed did men appear alongside 
these vegetable wonders. The largest we measured was, at three feet from the ground 
1 02 feet m circumference, and at the gromid 1 30 feet We had no means of estimating 
Its height, so dense was the neighbouring forest, above which, however, it towered in 
majestic grandeur. This noble swamp gum is still growing, and shows no signs of decny ; 
It should be held sacred as the largest growing ti-ee. The largest oak on record is the 
and, as it grew, 
VOL. ir 
. 
I 
>4?.4 
G 
