534 THE UNIVERSE. 



tree. Its large branches are fifty to sixty feet long. When 

 time has hollowed out the stem of one of these noble trees, 

 the negroes make use of the cavity. Sometimes they turn 

 it into a place of amusement, a rustic retreat where they 

 can smoke their chiboucjues and take refreshment ; at other 

 times they convert it into a prison. One of these is known 

 of which the Senegambians have converted the interior 

 into a council -hall; the entrance is covered with sculjj- 

 tures which point out the high destination reserved for it. 



But the marvel of the vegetable kingdom in respect 

 to its colossal dimensions, is assuredly the famous chestuut- 

 tree growing on the lower slopes of Etna. Count Borch, 

 who measured the trunk very exactly, accords it a cir- 

 cumference of 1.90 feet. A house Avhich shelters a shepherd 

 and his flock has been built in the immense hollow of 

 its trunk. During the winter the wood of the tree serves 

 the inhabitant of this solitary retreat for fuel, and its 

 abundance of fruit supplies him with food during the 

 summer. 



This colossus of our forests, which is called the "Chestnut 

 of a Hundred Horses," owes its name to the vast extent 

 of its foliage. The inhabitants of the country told the 

 painter J. Houel "that Jeanne of Aragon, when travelling 

 from Spain to Naples, stopped at Sicily, and, accompanied 

 l)y all the nobility of Catania, paid a visit to INIount Etna. 

 She was on horseback, as were also her suite, and a 

 storm having come on, she took shelter under this tree, 

 the vast foliage of which sufficed to protect the cpieen 

 and all her cavaliers from the rain. It is from this mem- 

 orable adventure, they add, that the old tree took the name 

 of Chestnut-tree of the Hundred Horses."' 



' Thecelelirated journey of Jeanne of Aragon to the Ciistuj/no di Cento C'avaUi, 

 as the cliestniit-treeof Etna is calleil in Sicily, is only a fable. Count Borch main- 



