IN CALIFORNIA 159 



humbling of nature's marvels to men not entirely 

 swamped in self-conceit. The ruthless iconoclasm, 

 however, that lays its hands on the world's most 

 cherished traditions has not overlooked the reputed 

 great age of the Sequoias, and some latter-day stu- 

 dents of the matter are inclined to put the maximum 

 age of the Big Tree at only 2,500 years, instead of 

 double that as has been generally asserted. To the 

 lover of sentiment whose heart is lifted up in spon- 

 taneous worship in the hushed twilight of a grove 

 of mammoth Sequoias, as in a temple of the Lord 

 that was standing when Christ walked in Galilee 

 a temple whose veil was never rent it is a solace 

 to consider that even at this reduced estimate, the 

 venerable giants antedate the Christian era by the 

 age of an oak or two. As a matter of fact, the rid- 

 dle of their age is still unsolved and the estimates 

 of four or five thousand years, while they may be 

 questioned by the skeptical, have by no means been 

 disproved. Guesses at tree ages, based upon ring- 

 counting, are looked upon now as less certain than 

 formerly, because of the probability that under cer- 

 tain circumstances more than one ring may be 

 formed in a year. 



The groves of Big Trees that are most visited, 

 are an easily accessible scant half-dozen in the 

 northern range, and particularly those in the neigh- 



