of the Ijland of Barbadoes. 



time, (lie is 80 foot high, and continues that form, without variation^ 

 only as fhe growcs older, fo taller and larger, and has alvvayes green^ 

 yellow, arid purple fruit, fucceeding one another .j whether there be 

 bloflbmes, I know not, for f never went fo high as to look. This 

 fort of trees 1 have feen of alHifes, from ten, to two hundred foot 

 high 5 and I have been told by fome of the antient Planters, that 

 when they came hrfl: upon the lilaud they have feen fome of them 

 three hundred foot high; And fomereafons I have toperfwade me to 

 bcUeve it 5 for, amongll: thole that [ have leen growing, which I have 

 gueftto be two hundred foot high, the bodies of which I raeadired, 

 and found to be but lixteen inches diameter. And I once found in a 

 wood,a tree lying, which feemcd to have been long fillen 5 for, the 

 young wood vvasfo grown about her , as ftanr'ing.at one end, I could 

 not fee the other : But, having a couple of N jgros with m.e, that vvere 

 axe-men, I caufed them to cut away the v/ood that grew about the 

 tree, that I might come to the other end, which I thought would ne- 

 j ver be done , llie was lo long, and yet a great part of her cut off , and 

 carried away. 1 meafured the diameter ot her ftem, and found it to be 

 25 inches. 



Now if we goby the rule ofThfee, and (ay 5'if 16 inches diameter 

 make 200 foot high , what Ui ill 2 5 inches? And by this rulewefhall 

 prove her to be 3 1 2 foot high. But the branches of this tree were all 

 carried away , fo that I could fee none of rhem. But I have meafured 

 a branch of one of thofe trees of 200 foot high, and found it 25 foot 



long. So then, by the fane Rule ? If 200 foot high bear a branch of 

 25 foot long, what fhall a Tree of 312 foot high do? And I fee by 

 the lame Rule, it appears to be 39 foot long. And one of thefe trees, 

 after fhe comes to bear fruit, will have no iels than 20 branches at 

 once, fbut many more in her nonage) andhalfe of them hold this 

 length. I have feen a branch of one of thefe fmall tree of 200 foot 

 high, fallen down , and blown from the tree in the falling , twenty 

 paces off, which has made me admire from whence it fhould come.- 

 For the tree being of fo great a height,th6 branches lofe much of their 

 bignels and length by tneir diftance: But, lying on the ground, 

 where we can take the ju(f meafure , we find what they are. And it 

 is an admirable thing, to fee the form of this fprig or branch, which is 

 not above two inches broad where it joynesto the film, andis leflen- 

 ing of the breadth from that end to the point , which is twenty five 

 foot long, fo infenfible, as it is not poflible to difoern where the dimi- 

 nution is. Soirnooth, fo even, fofirme and tough, as though it were 

 not wood, 'tis much ftronger^and abler to endure the weather, or any 

 kind of bending. The leaves that grow upon this ftalk , are all of 



X them 



