THE WELLINGTONIA GIGANTEA. 191 



Sir Adam also was) of Sir Walter Scott, and from whose inter- 

 course, probably, his love of trees was derived, or, at all events, 

 fostered. The picture is drawn on a scale with Lord Melville's 

 Column in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh (150 feet in height.) 



The picture accurately represents one of the giant firs, seen and 

 measured by the celebrated travellers Lewis and Clarke, in their 

 journey across the American continent. It was measured " with 

 great care," we are told by Humboldt in his " Aspects of ^Nature," 

 and was found to girth round the stem, " at 6 \ feet from the ground, 

 42 feet ; its stem was 300 feet in height, and totally destitute 

 of branches for the first 192 feet." This specimen, it will thus be 

 seen, is by no means one of the largest of these mammoth trees, 

 many others of those in the Mariposa, Frezno, and Calaveros groves 

 in California being both loftier and more gigantic in circumference. 

 For example, Mr Hutchings, in his " Scenes of Wonder in Cali- 

 fornia," records the girths of no fewer than 132 of these trees, being 

 about one-half the number of the entire grove. Looking over 

 these measurements as given by Mr Hutchings, we find that three 

 of the Wellingtonias exceeded 100 feet in circumference, two of 

 them were between 90 and 100 feet, and the others varied from 

 about 30 feet to 90 feet in girth. Many of the trees in the 

 Mariposa grove had attained 250 feet in height; several even 300 

 feet ; while one fallen giant, with bark gone, and its sides long since 

 charred by fire, measured over 100 feet in circumference, and had 

 probably attained not less than 350 feet in height. The largest of 

 all these famous trees, however, measured in its fallen grandeur and 

 decay, 33 feet in diameter across the butt of the stump ; and as it 

 was destitute of bark, there is little doubt that in full vigour it had 

 girthed 120 feet in circumference, or 40 feet diameter. " Only 

 about 150 feet of the trunk remained entire, yet the cavity where 

 it fell is still a large hollow beyond the portion burned off; and 

 upon pacing it, measuring from the root 120 paces, and estimating 

 the branches, this tree must have been 400 feet high. We believe 

 it to be the largest tree yet discovered."* 



Such are a few facts regarding the altitude and dimensions of the 

 Wellingtonia gigantea in its native habitats. The sites in which 

 it appears to thrive most luxuriantly, and to attain its largest 

 dimensions, are in sheltered valleys or gorges in the Nevada range, 

 where the soil is deepest and subsoil moist. This quite accords 



* Hutchings' "Scenes of Wonder in California. " London: Chapman and 

 Hall, 1S65, p. 148. 



