300 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



ures 96 feet in circumference at the base ; and the 

 top, cut smooth and even, is 25 feet diameter, with- 

 out reckoning the bark, which is about 3 feet more. 

 Upon it is built a round wooden house a ball-room 

 it is called ; and a circular room nearly 10 yards in 

 diameter is no mean dancing-saloon. It is said that 

 thirty-two people have danced here in four different 

 sets at the same time, and theatrical performances 

 have been given on the expansive top of this wonder- 

 ful stump. Near the stump lies a section of the 

 trunk ; and some idea of the size of this may be 

 gained from the fact that the writer, a man of 5 feet 

 11 inches, could barely touch the centre at the 

 smaller end, standing on tiptoe, while at the larger 

 he could in the same manner touch a point about 

 one-third of the whole diameter. The rest of the 

 vast fallen trunk, 302 feet long, had been dressed 

 level, and seemed like a broad terrace-walk, with 

 two bowling-alleys made on it side by side. The 

 amount of timber in this tree is calculated at 

 500,000 cubic feet ! and its age estimated from the 

 annual rings at 3000 years ! Before we had suffi- 

 ciently inspected and wondered at the Big Tree it 

 became dark, and we entered the hotel, where Mr 

 Sperry or Perry had supper ready for us, and in the 

 evening told us the history of the Great Trees. 



They were not discovered until the year 1850, 

 when a Mr Dowd, who was out hunting, was led by 

 a herd of deer which he was following into the Big 



