CELEBRATED TREES, 161 



without a single knot — solid trees -wliiclL have been 

 scooped into canoes, capable of holding thirty or 

 forty men ; particularly one on record, at Congo, 

 which held two hundred. I might add, also, Arthur's 

 table, in the county hall of Winchester, which has 

 been cut out of a tree of immense girth.* The 

 Cheltenham Oak also might be introduced, which 

 as near its roots as you can walk, exceeds twenty 

 paces round ; the Cawthorpe Oak, likewise, which, 

 at the ground, exceeded twenty-six yards ; the 

 Bently Oak in Holt Forest, which at seven feet 

 from the ground, was thirty-four feet in circum- 

 ference ; the Swilcar Oak in Needwood Foi'est, 

 which, I believe was equal to any of them.f 

 With an innumerable list of this kind I might 

 swell my page ; but I reject all such trees as 

 have either been only casually mentioned or have 

 had their value merely ascertained by a timber- 



* King Artlmr's round table is now suspended over tlie 

 judge's seat in the Nisi Prius Court in St. Stephen's Hall at 

 Winchester. — Ed. 



t Many of these trees are mentioned by Mr. Evelyn, and the 

 rest are collected from the topographical remarks of travellers 

 and historians. 



