SYLVAN GIANTS. 313 



By means of a ladder an ascent can be made to 

 the top of the fallen trunk, and here one can 

 enjoy a walk before breakfast of a morning, and 

 acquire a good appetite for it by pacing backwards 

 and forwards. Care, however, must be taken 

 to keep on the move all the while, for the bark is 

 so rotten that swarms of earwigs and stinging 

 insects have made themselves a home upon it ; so 

 that if you loitered at all, the consequences would 

 be serious. After the " Father " we will take the 

 " Mother of the Forest." The tree so called 

 stands at the far end of the enclosure away from 

 the hotel, and is 327 feet high, being the tallest 

 standing tree in the grove. Not a vestige of 

 foliage is there upon it, for it rears itself a gigan- 

 tic dead trunk, mostly bare, since the bark has 

 been stripped to a height of 116 feet, and nearly 

 all the remainder has been destroyed by the 

 ravages of fire. The bark so removed was taken 

 to the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, and there set 

 up ; but it was unfortunately destroyed by the 

 fire which consumed a portion of that building in 

 December, 1866. This tree, barkless as it is, has 

 a circumference of seventy-eight feet, and it 



