FELLING THE " BIG TREE." 145 



feet nine inches across its roots, while the cavity extends 

 to the distance of forty feet' large enough for a horseman 

 to ride in, and, turning round, return. We now reach 

 the " Beauty of the Forest," a tree sixty- five feet in cir- 

 cumference, fully three hundred feet high, symmetrical in 

 form, and adorned with a magnificent crest of foliage. 

 Beaching the road, and returning to the house, we pass 

 the "Two Guardsmen," which tower to the height of 

 three hundred feet, and are sixty-five and seventy feet 

 in circumference, forming an appropriate gateway to this 

 wonderful forest. 



Two of these trees have been used for the satisfaction 

 of public curiosity at a distance from their home. One 

 of the noblest, called the " Big Tree," was felled ; a work 

 of no small labour, since the trunk was ninety-six feet in 

 circumference at the base, and solid throughout. It was 

 effected by boring holes with augers, which were then 

 connected by means of the axe, and occupied twenty-five 

 men for five days. But even when this was done, so 

 accurately perpendicular was the noble column that it 

 would not fall, and it was only by applying a wedge and 

 strong leverage, during a heavy breeze, that its overthrow 

 was at last effected. In falling it seemed to shake the 

 ground like an earthquake ; and its immense weight 

 forced it into the soft virgin soil, so that it lies imbedded 

 in a trench, and the stones and earth were hurled up- 

 ward by the shock with such force that these records 

 of the fall may be seen on the surrounding trees to the 



height of nearly a hundred feet. The stump was smoothed, 



K 



