THE LONGEVITY OF TREES. te 
they have grown to six feet in diameter in the course of two 
centuries, we may calculate how many centuries they would 
require to attain the full diameter of twenty-five feet.” ! Soon 
afterwards, Adanson communicated to the Royal Academy of 
Sciences of Paris a full account of the Baobab; which was 
published in the volume of Memoirs of that society for the 
year 1761; and, lastly, he wrote the article “‘ Baobab ” for the 
supplement to the great French Encyclopedia, published in 
the year 1776. These accounts, although more detailed, em- 
body no essential additions to what has already been given. 
He says that the trees in question were two in number, upon 
the bark of which the names of Europeans were engraved, 
with dates, some posterior to the year 1600; and others, as 
far back as 1555, were probably the work of those who ac- 
companied Thevet, who, in his voyage to antarctic lands, saw 
some of these trees that same year.?, Some of the dates ap- 
peared to be anterior to 1500, but these were somewhat equiv- 
ocal. Neglecting, therefore, the indistinct dates in the four- 
teenth century, continues Adanson, and even allowing that 
the inscriptions were made when the trees were very young, 
which is highly improbable, as they occupied less than an 
eighth of the entire circumference, it is evident, that, if the 
Baobab has attained six feet in diameter between 1555 and 
1749, that is,in two hundred years, it would require more 
than eight centuries to attain the diameter of twenty-five feet, 
supposing the growth to continue at a uniform rate. But 
Adanson goes on to say that trees grow the more slowly as 
they advance in age; so that such an estimate would fall 
1 «Voyage au Sénégal,” Paris, 1757, p. 66. 
2“ Aupres du promontoire Verd, y a trois petites isles prochaines de 
terre ferme, autres que celles, que nous appellds Isles de Cap Verd, dont 
nous parlerons cy apres, assez belles, pour les beaux arbres, qu’elles 
produissent ; toutesfois elles ne sont habitées. . . . En l’une de ces isles 
se trouve un arbre, lequel porte feuilles semblables a celles de noz 
figuiers ; le fruit est log de deux pieds ou envird, et gros en proportion,” 
ete. (Thevet, “Singularités de la France Antarctique ;” Anvers, 1558, 
p- 18.) Thevet proceeds to describe the fruit, its edible character, its 
furnishing food for monkeys, ete., so as to leave no doubt as to its being 
a Baobab. 
