182 



ON THE AGE AND 



" Such another in Margiana is spoken of by 

 Strabo, that was twelve feet in circumference. 

 Pliny mentions one of six hundred years old in his 

 time ; and at Ecoan, the Duke of Montmorency's 

 house, is a table of a very large dimension, made 

 of the like plant; and that which renders.it the 

 more strange is, that a tree growing in such a 

 wreathed and twisted manner, rather like a rope 

 than timber, and needing the support of others, 

 should arrive to such a bulk and firm consistence ; 

 but so it is, and Olearius affirms, that he found 

 many Vines near the Caspian sea, whose trunks 

 were as big about as a man." 



" Pliny speaking of the Vine, says, the ancients 

 very justly reckoned Vines among trees, on account 

 of their magnitude. We see now an image of 

 Jupiter at PopulQnium , made out of one d , and 

 incorrupted after so many ages. Also a Patera % 

 at Massilia. f At Metapontum s , the Temple of 

 Juno was supported by vineal columns. And even 

 now, as reported, the roof of the Temple of Diana 

 at Ephesus is ascended by ladders made of one 

 Cyprian Vine, for in Cyprus they grow up to arr 

 extraordinary size. No wood is of a more lasting 

 nature." Lib. xiv. chap. 1. 



The naturalist observes afterwards, and very 

 sensibly, that the above particulars are to be under- 

 stood of Vines in their rude and uncultivated state, 



c A city of Italy. * A single stock only. 



e Sawn across, we must suppose, and not longitudinally. 

 ' Marseilles. s Metapontum is in Calabria. 



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