238 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL chap, x 



dimensions, varying from 14 to 18 feet in diameter at 

 six feet above the ground, and keeping nearly the same 

 thickness for perhaps a hundred feet. In the south 

 Calaveras grove, where there are more than a thousand 

 trees, the exquisite beauty of the trunks is well displayed 

 by the numerous specimens in perfect health and vigour. 

 The bark of these trees, seen at a little distance, is of a 

 bright orange brown tint, delicately mottled with darker 

 shades, and with a curious silky or plush-like gloss, which 

 gives them a richness of colour far beyond that of any 

 other conifer. The tree which was cut down soon after 

 the first discovery of the species, the stump of which is now 

 covered with a pavilion, is 25 feet in diameter at six feet 

 above the ground, but this is without the thick bark, 

 which would bring it to 27 feet when alive. A consider- 

 able portion of this tree still lies where it fell, and at 130 

 feet from the base I found it to be still 12 J feet in diameter 

 (or 14 feet with the bark), while at the extremity of the 

 last piece remaining, 215 feet from its base, it is six feet in 

 diameter, or at least seven feet with the bark. The height 

 of this tree when it was cut down is not recorded, but as 

 one of the living trees is more than 360 feet high, it is 

 probable that this giant was not much short of 400 feet. 



In the accompanying photo-plate the dead tree in the 

 centre is that from which the bark was stripped which was 

 erected in the Crystal Palace and unfortunately destroyed 

 by fire. It is called the " Mother of the Forest." The two 

 trees nearer the foreground are healthy, medium-sized 

 trees, about 15 feet diameter at 6 feet above the ground. 



The huge decayed trunk called " Father of the Forest," 

 which has fallen perhaps a century or more, exhibits the 

 grandest dimensions of any known tree. By measuring its 

 remains, and allowing for the probable thickness of the 

 bark, it seems to have been about 35 feet diameter near 

 the ground, at 90 feet up to 15 feet, and even at a height of 

 270 feet it was 9 feet diameter. It is within the hollow 

 trunk of this tree that a man on horseback can ride — 

 both man and horse being rather small ; but the dimen- 

 sions undoubtedly show that it was considerably larger 

 than the " Pavilion tree," and that it carried its huge 



