COMMON YEW. 879 



among which, that in the churchyard of Fortingal, situated 

 at the entrance of Glen Lyon, in Perthshire, is one of 

 the most ancient and venerable, and, as Dr. Neill remarks, 

 in all probability was a flourishing tree at the commence- 

 ment of the Christian era. It was first described by 

 Daines Barrington, in the " Philosophical Transactions " 

 in 1769, and he then stated its circumference to be fifty- 

 two feet. Some years afterwards it was seen by Pennant, 

 who found the circumference increased to fifty-six feet 

 six inches. Dr, Neill, who visited it in 1833, observes, 

 in his notice contained in the " Edinburgh Philosophical 

 Journal " of that date, that " considerable spoliations 

 have evidently been committed on the tree since 1769 ; 

 large arms have been removed, and masses of the trunk 

 itself carried off by the country-people, with the view 

 of forming quechs, or drinking cups, and other relics which 

 visitors were in the habit of demanding. What still 

 exists of the trunk now (1833) presents the appearance 

 of a semicircular wall, exclusive of the remains of some 

 decayed portions of it which scarcely rise above ground. 

 The side of the trunk" (he adds) "'now existing, gives 

 a diameter of more than fifteen feet, so that it is easy 

 to conceive that the circumference of the bole when entire 

 should have exceeded fifty feet." Inch Lonach in Loch 

 Lomond, commonly known by the name of the Yew tree 

 Island, was formerly covered with a wood of these trees, 

 and Sir T. D. Lauder specifies two individuals upon it, 

 which, when measured, in 1770, were found, the one up- 

 wards of ten feet, the other thirteen feet in circumference. 

 Subsequent to this date the produce of the island was 

 doomed to the axe, and three hundred beautiful Yew trees 

 cut down upon it at once. The same author mentions a 

 huge and ancient Yew tree that grew upon the Island 



