THE SECRET OF THE BIG TREES. 
15 
especially at the centers of the older trees, exactly the places which 
one most desires to see preserved. Even these decayed places, how¬ 
ever, added their own small quota of interest. Looking down into 
measuring the annual rings. 
the damp, decayed holes, we frequently saw the heads of greenish 
frogs, which slowly retreated if we became inquisitive and poked 
them. At other times, in drier places, lizards of a smooth, un- 
