200 



THE NATURAL HISTORY 



[LETT. 



quaint incantations long since forgotten. As the ceremonies 

 necessary for such a consecration are no longer understood, all 

 succession is at an end, and no such tree is known to subsist in 

 the manor, or hundred. 



As to that on the Plestor, for 



" The late vicar stubb'd and burnt it," 



when he was way -warden, regardless of the remonstrances of the 

 bystanders, who interceded in vain for its preservation, urging 

 its power and efficacy, and alleging that it had been "guarded 

 through many years by the piety of our ancestors ;" 



"Keligione patrum multos servata per annos." 

 SKLBORNB, Jan. 8, 1776. 



LETTER LXXI. 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON. 



IN heavy fogs, on elevated situations especially, trees are perfect 

 alembics : and no one that has not attended to such matters 

 can imagine how much water one tree will distil in a night's 

 time, by condensing the vapour which trickles down the twigs 

 and boughs, so as to make the ground below quite in a float. 

 In Newton-lane, in October, 1775, on a misty day, a particular 

 oak in leaf dropped so fast that the cart-way stood in puddles 

 and the ruts ran with water, though the ground in general was 

 dusty. 



In some of our smaller islands in the West Indies, if I mis- 

 take not, there are no springs or rivers ; but the people are 

 supplied with that necessary element, water, merely by the 

 dripping of some large tall trees, which, standing in the bosom 

 of a mountain, keep their heads constantly enveloped with fogs 

 and clouds, from which they dispense their kindly, never-ceasing 



