24 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



Of tlie success of the improvement last mentioned no 

 one but the prince himself entertained the slightest expec- 

 tation. Yet such, says Barlseus, was the ingenuity, as 

 well as persevering labour displayed in the work, that the 

 whole was accomplished with the most perfect success. 

 Notwithstanding the immense size of the trees, which were 

 of seventy and eighty years' growth, they were skilfully 

 taken up under the prince's superintendence. They were 

 then placed on carriages provided with wheels, and con- 

 veyed over a space of from three to four miles in extent, 

 and ultimately transported on rafts, across both the rivers, 

 to the shores of the island. On being planted there, so 

 favourable were both soil and vegetation in that genial 

 cHmate that they immediately struck root, and even bore 

 fruit during the first year after their removal. Thus, adds 

 Barlseus, the truth of the ancient adage was for once dis- 

 proved, which says that " it is impossible to transplant 

 an old tree with success.'''" 



This, without doubt, was a singular example of success- 

 ful transplantation, and not less singular than certain and 

 well attested. It was a splendid display of the efi'ects of 

 physical strength and mechanical ingenuity, judiciously 

 directed by absolute power ; but it is useless as an ex- 

 ample of either instruction or imitation. If we impartially 

 subduct from it all that may fairly be attributed to a 

 tropical climate, to the unlimited command of men and 

 money in executing the work, and to the glowing colours 

 of the historian in describing it, perhaps there will remain 

 little more than what is both probable and natural under 

 ordinary circumstances. Barlseus, beyond his general 

 eulogium on the great ingenuity, gives no account of the 

 details of the process. Indeed, he does not appear to 



* Note XI. 



