THE CHESTNUT. 



29 



A history of the Chestnut would be scarcely 

 complete without a notice of the great tree near 

 Mount Etna. It is called Castagno de Cento 

 Cavalli, or, the Chestnut of a hundred horses from 

 a traditionary tale that Joan of Arragon, when 

 she visited Mount Etna, attended by her princi- 

 pal nobles, was obliged by a heavy shower to 

 take refuge under this tree, the immense branches 

 of which sheltered the whole party. Its fame 

 had reached England before Evelyn's time, 

 who quotes the foUovv^ing passage from Kir- 

 cher: ^^And, what may seem scarce credible, 

 the guide pointed out to me the shell of a single 

 Chestnut-tree of such vast size, that a w^hole 

 flock of sheep was enclosed in it by some shep- 

 herds, as in a very commodious fold." Brydone, 

 who visited the spot in 1770, gives the following 

 more detailed account : From this place it is 

 not less than five or six miles to the great Chest- 

 nut-trees, through forests growing out of the lava, 

 in several places almost impassable. Of these trees 

 there are many of an enormous size : but the Cas- 

 tagno de Cento Cavalli is by m.uch the most cele- 

 brated. I have even found it marked in an old 

 map of Sicily published near a hundred years 

 ago ; and in all the maps of Etna and its environs, 

 it makes a very conspicuous figure. I own I was 

 not much struck with its appearance, as it does 

 not seem to be one tree, but a bush of five large 

 trees growing together. We complained to the 

 guides of the imposition ; when they unanimously 

 assured us, that by the universal tradition and 

 unvarying testimony of the country, all these were 

 once united in one stem ; that their grandfathers 

 remembered this, when it was looked upon as 



