TREES OF AMERICA. 171 



there was one on Mount ^Etna that surpassed 

 all the trees in the world in size : it is said to 

 have been a hundred and sixty feet round, 

 and large enough to shelter a hundred men 

 on horseback under its branches." 



" Oh, Uncle Philip, is that true ?" 



" I cannot say ; you know where that 

 mountain is, I suppose ?" 



" Yes, sir ; it is a volcano, in the island of 

 Sicily." 



" Very right ; well, I have read of the 

 great chestnut in several books, and there 

 is no reason why we should not believe it, that 

 I know of." 



" I suppose that tree must have been very 

 old, Uncle Philip." 



" Yes, nobody knows how old ; there is no 

 account of it that gives any information as to 

 its age, and the oldest speak of it as having 

 stood for hundreds of years. The inside of it 

 was almost all gone, and the trunk, in fact, 

 consisted only of bark, with a very thin shell 

 of wood ; for you must know that in chestnut- 

 trees, the sap circulates in the bark, and as 

 long as that remains the trees will live, even 

 after all the wood is decayed and gone, as 



