THE LONGEVITY OF TREES. 89 
latter, indeed, speak of trees as old as the creation ;! but they 
have unfortunately neglected to mention the evidence upon 
which their opinions were founded. Restricting ourselves, 
therefore, to trees which still survive, or which have existed 
within recent times, we commence our enumeration with one 
which is rather remarkable for its historical associations than 
for any extraordinary longevity ; namely, the celebrated Syc- 
amore Maple (Acer Pseudo-Platanus), which stands near 
the entrance of the village of Trons, in the Grisons, the cra- 
dle of liberty among the Rhetian Alps. Under the once 
spreading branches of this now hollow and cloven trunk, the 
Gray League — so called, either from the gray beards, or the 
home-spun clothing, of the peasants who there met the nobles 
favorable to their cause — was solemnly ratified in March, 
1424. Upon the supposition that it was only a century old 
when the meeting, to which its celebrity is owing, took place, 
— and a younger tree would hardly have been selected for the 
purpose, —it has now attained the age of five hundred and 
twenty years. It can scarcely be younger, it may be much 
older than this. In some of the earlier accounts, this tree is 
said to be a Linden. Indeed, it is so called in the inscription 
upon the walls of the adjacent little chapel. .They were bet- 
ter patriots than botanists in those days; for the investiga- 
tions of Colonel Bontemps leave no doubt as to the identity 
of the tree.? 
The Linden itself, however, is associated with some inter- 
esting points of Swiss history ; it also affords some instances 
of remarkable longevity, which the lightness and softness of 
its wood would by no means lead us to expect. The Linden 
in the town of Freiburg, which was planted in 1476, to com- 
memorate the bloody battle of Morat, though now beginning 
to decay, has already proved a more durable memorial than 
the famous ossuary on the battlefield, 
1 Josephus relates, that he saw near Hebron a Terebinthus which had 
existed ever since the creation (Lib. V., c. 31) ; and Pliny speaks of 
Oaks in the Hereynian forest, which he deems coeval with the world. 
(Hist. Nat., Lib. xvi., ce. 2.) 
2 « Bibliothéque Univ. de Genéve,” Aofit, 1831. 
