96 DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. VII.— B. S. 
a Spanish American—to refuse the offer (others say the 
Government made them refuse). The tree, of which 
a woodcut is given in Squier’s ‘Central America,’ is 
but 90 feet high; but some of the lower branches, 
which are quite horizontal, are 92 feet long and 5 feet 
in diameter. The stem, 4 feet above the base, is 21 
feet in circumference, and the crown of the tree de¬ 
scribes a circle of 348 feet. A whole regiment of sol¬ 
diers may seek repose in its shade. 
If this vegetable monster had been a denizen of any 
part of the Eastern hemisphere, it would have become 
a fit object of tree-worship, that singular religion 
which flourished long before temples and churches 
were thought of, and which enjoyed a more extensive 
geographical range than any creed has done since. 
At one time it was diffused over the whole of Europe, 
Asia, Africa, and Polynesia. Throughout Europe and 
some islands of Polynesia it has been supplanted by 
Christianity; in parts of Asia and Africa by Moham¬ 
medanism ; but nowhere have its rites been entirely 
suppressed. Deprived of their religious character 
and import, many of them have survived to this day, 
everywhere associated with mirth, good feeling, and 
festivity. Ho trace of tree-worship has been noticed 
amongst the natives of Australia, nor amongst those of 
the Hew World, though it had penetrated to the east¬ 
ernmost islands of Polynesia. The fact is most singu¬ 
lar, as no continent boasts of such magnificent and 
venerable trees as America. In the virgin forests of 
Brazil there are trunks of such gigantic size that fifteen 
Indians with outstretched arms could hardly span 
