254 LETTERS TO MARCO xxxvn 



had been carefully cut with the axe, a long, 

 narrow saw was worked through the stem, 

 one man holding the saw handle at its base 

 and the other the handle at its end, whilst 

 the woman pulled at a small rope attached 

 to the saw, which greatly accelerated the 

 forward cut. An iron wedge was after a bit 

 inserted opposite to the fall ; and in a very few 

 minutes, with very little preliminary warning, 

 down came the sixty-foot tree, exactly in the 

 place intended for it. The cubic measure- 

 ment of the tree was then marked with the 

 axe on the stem. The woman, I was told, 

 was a most invaluable person ; not only 

 looking after the men's dinners, etc., but 

 being extremely dexterous in chopping up 

 faggots and brushwood, and doing a lot of 

 work. It looked as if it would be utterly 

 impossible for the tree to fall in the direction 

 it did. 



There is, very near Well Place, where we 

 were staying, an old disused well, said to 

 be the work of the Romans, now dry and 



