CHESTNUT ON MOUNT iETNA. 



105 



owned^ with regard to the Castagno del Cento 

 CavalU, or Chestnut of the Hundred Horses^ 

 that he was much disappointed on being shewn 

 what appeared to be five large trees growing 

 together. His guides^ with whom he remon- 

 strated on the apparent imposition, protested 

 that they once formed one tree, the interval 

 between these five portions being then filled 

 up with solid timber. This account is con- 

 firmed by others, who assert, that they have 

 dug far enough below the surface of the earth, 

 to find a solid mass, filling the whole space. 

 These portions stand in a sort of circle, which 

 measures upwards of two hundred feet in cir- 

 cumference, the girth of the tree before it 

 went to decay !" 



Granting," I observed, that some doubt 

 may fairly rest on this supposed instance of 

 bulk in a single tree, there are others, w^ell 



