98 THE MOUNTAINS 



hold of that botanist and drag him to the 

 place and say to him, "Is that 'devoid of 

 beauty'?" 



The peculiar appeal of the olive tree 

 does not depend, however, so much upon 

 its beauty as upon its individuality. Every 

 individual tree has the most marked pe- 

 culiarity, with which you can become ac- 

 quainted almost as thoroughly as with the 

 features of a man's face. What is more, 

 this individuality does not come merely 

 from size and native form, as is the case, 

 say, with the gaunt skeleton of a fig tree. 

 No. The individuality of an olive is 

 largely produced by its strange manner 

 of growth. This strange way of growing 

 I will indicate as closely as can be made 

 suitable for a popular description: 



1. A young olive tree usually has a 

 single trunk, which, at a relatively short 

 but varying distance from the ground, 

 divides into two or more primary 

 branches. 



2. Both the trunk and the primary 



