90 THE HUMAN SIDE OF TREES 



limb and dig honey out of the hollow you see in 

 the big broken branch. In the year 1345 both my 

 neighbours and I suffered from climatic disturb- 

 ances, and in 1381 I was bombarded by an ava- 

 lanche of rocks so severely that one of my upper 

 branches was broken off and, as you will see, fell 

 to the ground and became petrified. Two of the 

 rocks remained embedded in my body. The 

 splintered wood of 1394 would indicate an earth- 

 quake, or possibly an exceptionally heavy lightning 

 jolt. Along about 1400 evidences of man begin to 

 appear. The years 1485 and 1486 each have flint 

 arrow-head markings in their diary pages. What 

 a story they could tell on their own account! 

 1636 (the 745th year of my life) shows axe and 

 fire markings. There is some indication that in 

 1878 my body acted as a target for some stray bul- 

 lets. But of all trying years 1809 was my hard- 

 est. There were troubles in swarms ; my ring-diary 

 is a mere thread of wood at that point. I was too 

 disturbed to record all that happened. In 1885 

 one of my main side shoots went down before an 

 accumulated weight of ice and snow. You can see 

 the shattered and pitiful stump it left . . ." 



Thus the fallen monarch rambles on, like an aged 

 veteran, and has something to say as long as one 

 cares to examine fresh cross-sections. Historians 



