TIIE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
nieusions of this gigantic tree. “We departed,” he 
says, “ from Ace-Reale in order to visit the Chestnut 
of the Hundred Horses. We passed through Saint 
Alfro and Piraino, where these trees are common, 
and where we found some superb old chestnuts. They 
grow very well in this part of Etna, and they are culti¬ 
vated with great care. Night not having yet come, we 
went at once to see the fa mods Chestnut which was the 
object of our journey. Its size is so much beyond all 
others, that we find it impossible to express the sensa¬ 
tion we experienced on first seeing it. Having exam¬ 
ined it carefully, I proceeded to sketch it from nature. 
I continued my sketch the next day, finishing it on the, 
spot according to my custom, and, I can now say, it is 
a faithful portrait, having demonstrated to my own 
satisfaction that the tree was ICO feet in circumference, 
171 
house here, with a sort of a furnace for drying the 
chestnuts and other fruits they wish to preserve. They 
are even so indifferent to the preservation of this won¬ 
derful natural curiosity, that they do not hesitate to cut 
off branches to burn in the furnace. 
“ Some persons think that this mass of vegetation is 
formed of many trees which have united their trunks; 
but a careful examination disposes of this notion. They 
are deceived. All the parts which have been destroyed 
by the hand of time or the hand of man have evidently 
belonged to a single trunk. I have measured them care¬ 
fully, and found the one trunk ICO feet in circum¬ 
ference.” 
In confirmation of the above statement, another cele¬ 
brated traveler, Mr. Brydone, who described this tree 
early in the present century, says: “ I was by no means 
The Great Chestnut Tree of Mount Etna. 
and having heard its history related by the scivanis of 
the hamlet. This tree is called the ‘ Chestnut of a 
Hundred Horses,’ in consequence of the vast extent of 
ground it covers. They tell me that Jean of Aragon, 
while journeying from Spain to Naples, stopped in 
Sicily and visited Mount Etna, accompanied by all the 
noblesse of Catania on horseback. A storm came on, 
and the Queen and her cortege took shelter under this 
tree, whose vast foliage served to protect her and all 
those cavaliers from the rain. It is true that out of the 
hamlet the tradition of the Queen’s visit is looked upon 
as fabulous; but, however that may be, the tree itself 
seems very capable of doing the office assigned to it. 
“This tree, with its vaunted diameter, is entirely 
hollow. It is supported chiefly by its bark, having lost 
its interior entirely by age; but it is not the less crowned 
by verdure. The people of the country have erected a 
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 our guides of the imposition, when 
they unanimously assured us, that, by the universal 
tradition, and even testimony of the country, all these 
were once united in one stem; that their grandfathers 
once remembered this, when it was looked upon as the 
glory of the forest, and visited from all quarters; that 
for many years past it had been reduced to the venerable 
ruin we now behold. .We began to examine it with 
more attention, and found that there is an appearance 
that these five trees were really once united in one. 
The opening in the middle is at present prodigious; 
and it does, indeed, require faith to believe that so vast 
a space was once occupied by solid timber. But there 
is no appearance of bark on the inside of any of' the 
trunks, nor on the sides that are opposite each other 
