2074 



AKBORKTUAI AND FUUTICErUM. 



I'AllT 111. 





atcd ill Buckland churchyard, about a mile from Dover; and, accordiiig to 

 an account given of it l)y tlie Rev. W. T. Brce, is of groat antiquity and 

 singular formation. About the midtlie of the last century, tlie tree " was 

 shattered by lightning, which, at the same time, demolished also the steeple of 

 the church, close to which it stands. To this catastroj)he, no doubt, is to 

 be attributed, in a great measure, nuich of the rude and grotesijue appearance 

 which it now presents. At a yard from the ground, the but, which is 

 holhnv, and, on one side, extremely tortuous anil irregular, protruding its 

 ' knotted fangs,' like knees, at the height of some feet from the surface, 

 measures ^J? ft. in circumference. It is split from the l)ottoni into two por- 

 tions; one of which, at the height of about (i ft., again divides naturally into 

 two |)arts; so that the tree consists of a short equal but, branching out into 

 three main arms; the whole not exceeding in height, to the extreme lop of 

 the branches, more than al)out '2. 5 ft. or 30 ft. Of what may be regarded as 

 the original trunk and arms but little now remains alive : two considerable 

 portions, however, are still conspicuous in the state of dead wood ; viz. one 

 on the inner part of the northern limb, hollow, and forming a sort of tunnel 

 or chimney; the other on the western limb, more solid, and exhibiting the 

 grain of the wood singularly gnarled and contorted. These, which are [)ro- 

 bably jiorlions of the original trunk ami arms, arc pailly encased, as il were. 



