EUCALYPTUS TREES. 21 



from four hundred and sixteen to four hundred and 

 seventy-one feet. One of the latter species has reached 

 the height of five hundred feet, which is twenty feet 

 higher than the Pyramid of Cheops, the tallest struct- 

 ure in the world. This tree would cast a shadow 

 upon the summit of the great Pyramid. A giant 

 Eucalyptus of Tasmania was not less than thirty feet 

 in diameter near the soil, the height being about 

 three hundred feet. 



Without expecting such vast proportions in gen- 

 eral, the Eucalyptus globulus is not the less the lar- 

 gest forest-tree in the world — excepting only the 

 " Sequoia Giganfea," or Big Tree of California. " In 

 its juvenile state it is a finished type of elegance. In 

 its adult period, it is a magnificent representation of 

 strength." The trunk can supply immense planks. 

 One was sent to the London Exhibition, in 1862, 

 measuring seventy-five feet in length, and about ten 

 feet in width. Australia desired to send a plank one 

 hundred and sixty-five feet long, but no ship could be 

 found to transport it. The English Navy begins to 

 appreciate the wood for its solidity, durability, and 

 tenacity. The best whale-ships that furrow the South 

 American Seas are those of Hobart Town ; the keels 

 of which are made of the Eucalyptus globulus. The 

 wood of the Eucalyptus combines density of texture 

 with rapidity of growth. This growth is particularly 

 rapid during its juvenile period, but it does not cease 

 to grow in height until it is twenty-four years old. 

 After this age, the trunks, which are generally very 

 straight, only increase in diameter. Compact and 

 tenacious, the wood, owing to the presence of resinous 

 materials, possesses 9. sort of incorruptibility, which 



