A Difcottrfe of Foreft-Trees. 



celebrated by our Foet'j neer to another Monument, 



■ juflaqne antiqua Cttprejfus 



Relligionefatrnm miiltosfervatafer annos. ^n. 2* 



5. But we will fpare our Reader, and refer him that has a defire 

 to multiply examples of this kind, to thofe undoubted Records 

 our NatttraiiB mentions in his ^^,Che^. Lib. 16. where he ftiall 

 read of Scipio Jfiicanus's Olive-trees i Dianas Lotus 5 the over- 

 grown il/yr^^/i xh^e Vatican Wolm^ thoCe o^ Tybertine, andelpeci- 

 ally, that neer to Tufculum, whofebody was thirty five foot about ; 

 befides divers others which he there enumerates in a large Chapter : 

 And what (hall we con)edur« of the age oiXerxes*s huge Flatanus^ 

 in admiration whereof he ftaid the march of fo many hundred 

 thoufand men for fo many days : by which the wife Socrates was 

 us'd to [wear .<? And certainly, a goodly Tree was a powerful attra- 

 ftive, wher? that prudent Conful Pa(ftenus Crij^us fell in love with 

 a prodigious Beech of a wonderful age and ftature. 



6. We have already made mention of Tiberius's Larch, and 

 that of the Float which wafted Caligulas Obelises out o(jSgjipt^ 

 four fathoms in circumference : We read alfb of a Cedar growing 

 in the Ifland of Cyprus which was 130 foot long, and 18 in diame- 

 ter'^ of the Vlane va Athens whofe roots extended 36 Cubits far- 

 ther then the boughs , which were yet exceedingly large ; and 

 fuch another was that moft famous Tree at Veliterntts^ whofe arms 

 ftretch'd out 80 foot from the ftem : But thefe wexcjolid : Now 

 if we will calculate from the hollow, befides thofe mention'd by 

 Pliny in the Hercynian Foreft > the Germans (as now the Indians) 

 had of old fome Punti or Canoes of excavated Oal{_ which would 

 well contain thirty, fome fourty perfons : And the Lician Plata- 

 nus recorded by the NatHralili , and remaining long after his 

 days, had a room in it of eighty one feet in compals, adorn'd 

 with Fountains,(i2Ltely Seats and Tables\o£ ftone , for it feems it was 

 fo glorious a rree both in body, and head, thsit Licinius Mutianus 

 (three times Conful, and Governour of that Province) us'd to feaft 

 his whole Retinue in it, chufing rather to lodge in it, then in his 

 golden-roofed Palace. 



7. Compare me then with thefe that nine-fathom'd deep tree 

 fpoken of by Jofephus a Coila ^ the MaUick^tree feen and mea- 

 fur'd by Sir Francif Drakf, which was four and thirty yards in cir- 

 cuit j and for prodigious height the two, and three hundredfoot 

 unparallel'd Palms-royal defcrib'd by Captain Ligon growing in 

 our Plantations of the Barbados ^ or thofe goodly MaSis of Fir, 

 which I have feen, and meafur'd, brought from New England j not 

 to omit the vaft, and incredible bulk of fome Oakj ftanding lately 

 mWeiiphalia, whereof <?»e ferv'd both for a C4i?/e and ftfr^ 5 be- 

 caufe in this refention we will endeavour to give a tafte of more 

 frefli obfervarions, and to compare our modern Timber with the 

 Ancient, and that, not only abroad, but without travelling into 

 forreign Countries for thefe wonders. 



N 8. What 



