272 OUR NATIONAL PARKS 



The root system corresponds in magnitude 

 with the other dimensions of the tree, forming 

 a flat far-reaching spongy network two hundred 

 feet or more in width without any taproot, and 

 the instep is so grand and fine, so suggestive of 

 endless strength, it is long ere the eye is released 

 to look above it. The natural swell of the roots, 

 though at first sight excessive, gives rise to but- 

 tresses no greater than are required for beauty 

 as well as strength, as at once appears when you 

 stand back far enough to see the whole tree in 

 its true proportions. The fineness of the taper 

 of the trunk is shown by its thickness at great 

 heights — a diameter of ten feet at a height of 

 two hundred being, as we have seen, not un- 

 common. Indeed the boles of but few trees hold 

 their thickness as well as Sequoia. Resolute, 

 consummate, determined in form, always beheld 

 with wondering admiration, the Big Tree always 

 seems unfamiliar, standing alone, unrelated, with 

 peculiar physiognomy, awfully solemn and ear- 

 nest. Nevertheless, there is nothing alien in its 

 looks. The Madrona, clad in thin, smooth, red 

 and yellow bark and big glossy leaves, seems, in 

 the dark coniferous forests of Washington and 

 Vancouver Island, like some lost wanderer from 

 the magnolia groves of the South, while the 

 Sequoia, with all its strangeness, seems more at 

 home than any of its neighbors, holding the 

 best right to the ground as the oldest, strong- 



