THE BIG TREES 125 
commonly called, of California. The annual rings of 
these giants show them to be from two thousand to 
four thousand years old. 
It is hard to realize this great age. It means that 
for centuries and centuries before the white men came 
these kings of the forests looked down on generations 
Fic. 133. ‘‘ General Grant,’’ a Big Tree, Mariposa Grove, California 
and generations of Indian tribes. They may even have 
seen the coming of the first Indians. What wonderful 
tales they might relate if they could only talk! 
On that fateful day over four hundred years ago, 
when the three little caravels of Columbus sighted the 
