2 io Yew- Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



the year 1769. Pennant, who also saw it in 1769, 

 published his account of the measurements in 1771. 

 He gives the girth as 56 feet, whereas Barrington 

 says it was 52 feet. There is therefore a discrep- 

 ancy of 4 feet betwixt these two early observations. 



Dr. Patrick Neill, who visited it in 1833, observes 

 in his notice of it, published in the Edinburgh Philo- 

 sophical Transactions of that date, that considerable 

 spoliations have been committed on the tree since 

 1769. 'What still exists of the trunk/ he says, 

 ' now presents the appearance of a semicircular 

 wall, exclusive of the remains of some decayed 

 portion of it, which scarcely rise above the ground. ' 

 ' The side of the trunk now existing gives a dia- 

 meter of more than 15 feet, so that it is easy to 

 conceive that the circumference of the bole when 

 entire should have exceeded 50 feet.' 



Captain Campbell, of Glenlyon, assured Pen- 

 nant that he had often when a boy climbed over 

 the connecting part. 



Of this tree, Sir R. Christison x rightly observes : 

 ' It is not easy to satisfy oneself merely from the 

 superannuated remains as they now stand that 

 they belong to what was once one tree only/ 

 There can, I think, be no doubt on this subject, 

 and the outline sketch which he gives strongly 

 supports this idea. ' Little information as to its 

 rate of growth is to be got from sections of the 



1 Trans. Bof. Soc. Edin. 



