24 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



as he sees it growing in our climate ? A poor tiny thing 

 scarcely bigger than a geranium he would not term a tree, he 

 would call it a shrub or a bush ; nevertheless, this very same 

 species of myrtle assumes under the more genial sun of Southern 

 Europe and Northern Africa the dimensions of a goodly tree. 

 Again, what would the redder term the mignonette ? A plant 

 of course ; yet in Northern Africa, along the Barbary coast, its 

 stem becomes woody, and it assumes the aspect of a bush or 

 shrub at least. 



dragon-trees are amongst the largest and the oldest, if not the 

 very largest and very oldest, of known trees. The great dragon- 

 tree of Orotava, in the island of Tenoriffe,* an accurate repre- 

 sentation of which is given below, is of such dimensions that tc. 

 full-grown men, joining hand to hand, are scarcely sufficient to 

 encircle its base. It is now about four hundred and seventy 

 years ago since the island of Teneriffe was first discovered. 

 The great dragon-tree of Orotava was then, aa it is now, the 

 twin wonder of that island, dividing its interest with that of 



THE GREAT DRAGON-TREE OF OROTAVA, TENERIFFE. 



When the true relations subsisting between vegetables are 

 well considered, we shall find that the mere size of a vegetable 

 has nothing to do with its real nature : thus the sugar-cane, , 

 which grows to the elevation of fifteen or sixteen feet, is still 

 to all intents and purposes a grass ; as in like manner is the 

 bamboo, which assumes the dimensions of a tree. Then, again, 

 the lily tribe. Does not the very'sound of the word lily cause 

 ideas to arise of some delicate herb-like growth, surmoTinted 

 with drooping flowers ? Of this kind are the lilies which grow 

 in our climate ; but all lilies are not thus. The great dragon- 

 tree, as it is called, is still a lily ; and as though Nature desired 

 to confound our prejudices by one bold master-stroke, these 



the stupendous peak. Precise accounts have been handed down 

 to us of its size, from a consideration of which it appears tliae 

 the monster has increased but very little in dimensions since 

 that time a probability which is still further confirmed by 



* One of the Canary Islands, a group in the Atlantic Ocean, about 

 sixty miles S.W. from the coast of Marocco, belonging to Spain. 

 They were supposed to have been known to the ancients as the 

 " Fortunate Isles." The earliest discovery, however, of ttoese islands 

 of which we have any authentic account was made by De Bethsncourt, 

 a Normaa, about 1400, and they were purchased from his descendants 

 and annexed to Spain about eighty years after. The famous Peak of 

 Teneriffe is 12,lP /) feet above the level of the sea. 



