170 GREAT FLAGSTAFFS. 



ephemeral character of human existence, and tell us 

 how small a thing is the life of the individual man 

 when compared to that of one of these great trees. 



Then again, in the Botanical Gardens at Kew, there 

 is a flagstaff made from a pole of the A bies Douglasii, 

 brought from Vancouver Island, and presented to these 

 gardens in 1861. It is 159 feet high, and weighs 4 

 tons 8 cwts 2 qrs., and the age of the tree was about 250 

 years. * It is generally supposed that this is one of 

 the highest flagstaffs in the world, formed from a single 

 tree. Nevertheless England furnishes us with instances 

 of other noble flagstaffs still superior in dimensions- 

 thus the flagstaff on the Round Tower, at Windsor 

 Castle, which has been standing for more than 50 years, 

 has recently been condemned by the War Office 

 Authorities, who have ordered its removal and " a new 

 staff will be forwarded from the Dockyard at Portsmouth. 

 The condemned staff is 170 feet in height, and is 5 

 feet in circumference at the base." f 



Unfortunately we have not been able to ascertain 

 the precise variety of tree from which this latter great 

 staff was formed, or whether it was built up, or made 

 from a single piece of timber but at any rate, no one 

 can deny that it formed a right worthy pole, from 

 which the Royal Standard of England has floated for 

 over half a century. 



It is quite worth our while to revert for a moment 

 to the accounts which have been given of the splendid 

 forests which even still surround the Pacific Terminus 

 of the Canadian Pacific Railway at Vancouver City. 



* Details given on a plate attached to this flagstaff, copied by the 

 Author on the spot. 



j The Globe (London Evening paper) of Sept. I, 



