209 



THE a 



DRAGON-TREE 



or 



O ROTA FA. 



PLATE LXIX. 



This plate is a representation of the colossal 

 trunk of the dracoena draco in the island of 

 TenerifFe, mentioned by every traveller, but which 

 has never yet been engraved. It is between 

 fifty and sixty feet in height ; its circumference 

 near the roots is forty-five feet ; and it had at- 

 tained this size, when the Spaniards landed first 

 at Teneriffe in the fifteenth century. As this 

 plant of the family of the monocotyledons grows 

 extremely slow, it is probable, that the dragon- 

 tree of Orotava is older than the greater part of 

 the monuments of which we have given a des- 

 cription in this work. 



VOL. XIV. p 



