SYLVAN GIANTS. 303 



measured four feet higher up.' It was planted 

 about the year 1596. An Ash at Bonhill, Dum- 

 bartonshire, measured, at about four feet from 

 the ground, thirty-four feet one inch ; four feet 

 higher it measured twenty-one feet three inches ; 

 and at twelve feet, ' immediately under the three 

 great arms into which it divides, twenty-two feet 

 nine inches.' This tree was hollow in its trunk. 

 One of its branches measured ten feet four inches, 

 another eleven feet, and the third twelve feet in 

 girth ! We must extract verbatim one passage 

 relating to an Ash. from Sir T. D. Lauder : ' An 

 Ash in the churchyard of Kilmalie, in Lochaber, 

 was long considered as the largest and most 

 remarkable tree in the Highlands. It was held 

 in reverence by Locliiel and his numerous kindred 

 and clan for many generations, which probably 

 hastened its destruction, for in the year 1746 it 

 was burnt by the brutal soldiery to the ground. 

 Its remains were examined on the 23rd of Octo- 

 ber, 1 764i. Its circuit at the ground could then 

 be traced, most parts of the circumference of the 

 putrid trunk being several inches, and others 

 about a foot, above the surface of the earth. Its 



