THE AZORES 



395 



originally about two feet above the ground. Miss Brown was good 

 enough to send me a picture frame, made from one of these " cedar " 

 logs, which her father had purchased. I sent it to the Kew Museum, 

 and received through the kindness of Sir D. Prain the following 

 report by Mr. Boodle, who examined the wood with care : " The 

 wood appears to be that of a species of Juniperus, perhaps the same 

 species as the block of wood in the Kew Museum, also dug up in 

 the Azores. According to a label on this block, Masters states that 

 Senor Henriques showed that this wood is identical with that of 

 Juniperus brevifolia." In his letter to the author Sir D. Prain 

 says : " I am prepared to accept his verdict as at any rate definite 

 proof that the wood cannot be identified with anything but that of 

 a Juniper." 



These buried Juniper trees have been also found in other islands 

 of the group. When at Horta I was told by Mr. Keating that up 

 to recent times the trunks were often dug up on Flores, and were 

 used for building the small sailing craft trading between the islands. 

 Writing of Terceira, Walker (p. 253) states that in various parts of 

 the island " are occasionally found immense cedar trees embedded 

 in deep ravines and valleys, still in perfect preservation." An 

 unearthed log sometimes proved to be a godsend to the islanders, 

 who promptly cut it up for firewood. 



The whole subject of these buried trees of the Azores requires 

 systematic investigation; but there can be little doubt that the 

 group possessed an abundance of excellent native timber in the 

 early centuries of its occupation, and that it has none now. We 

 would be unable in our days to find any native trees large enough 

 to supply timber for the beams of the roofs of churches. Men, 

 goats, and cattle have been active agents in deforesting these islands 

 for four hundred years and more. Except when specially preserved, 

 it would be difficult to find on Pico trees more than twenty feet 

 high and more than thirty years old at the present day; and 

 the same remark would apply to the native trees of the other islands. 



The Greatest Size attained by Existing Trees on the 

 Azores. — Facts of the kind just given led me to inquire into the 

 maximum size that the existing trees can acquire when unhindered 

 in their growth; and it will be seen from the data to be now given 

 that they can attain quite respectable dimensions, although falling 

 far short of those indicated for the trees of the original forests. I 

 took up the matter on the island of Pico. Land is there valued for 

 the wood upon it, and it is profitable for the owner to leave his land 

 undisturbed for many years. The great demand for wood for firing 

 and other purposes usually prevents this being done; but in two 

 of these " preserves " at the back of Magdalena opportunities were 

 afforded me of investigating the subject. Here the larger wood 

 was made up entirely of Myrica fay a, Laurus canariensis, and Erica 

 azorica. The two first-named trees commonly attained a height of 

 from thirty-five to forty feet and a diameter of from twelve to fifteen 

 inches, and those of Erica azorica a height of twenty-five feet and 

 a diameter of eleven or twelve inches. The Fay a trees occasionally 

 exceeded forty feet, the maximum being fifty feet. In the gardens 

 around Ponta Delgada they grow to a height of from thirty-five to 



