JUNE. , ‘175 
the operation of the laws that govern the growth and development of 
plants, may find in this land of gold, spots on which he will walk as on 
consecrated ground ; and will look up with rapture at the gigantic trees 
that lift their proud heads to bear witness, like the pyramids of Egypt, 
to the lapse of thousands of years; and as they suggest thoughts of 
their builders, so do these of a mightier hand. 
About thirty miles from Sonora, in the district of Calaveras, you 
come to what is called the Stanislas River; and following one of its 
tributaries that murmurs through a deep, wooded bed, you reach the 
Mammoth-tree Valley, which lies 1500. feet above the level of the sea. 
In this valley, which takes, its name thence, you find yourself in the 
presence of the giants of the vegetable world (Wellingtonia gigantea) ; 
and the astonishment with which you contemplate from a distance 
these tower-like Coniferee, rising far above the lofty Pine woods, is 
Increased ‘when on a nearer approach you become aware of their 
prodigious dimensions. There is a family of them consisting of 90 
members, scattered. over a space of about 40 acres; and the smallest 
and feeblest among them is not less than 15 feet in diameter. You 
ean scarcely believe your eyes. as you look up to their crowns, which, 
in the most vigorous of the colossal stems, only begins at the height of 
150 or 200 feet from the ground. 
Whether itis the enormous girth of the grey moss-grown trunk, the 
incredible height, or the straight beautiful growth, that produces so 
powerful an impression, it is long before you can collect your thoughts 
sufficiently to be able quietly to consider their peculiar characteristics, 
and determine to what species they belong. Most of them have blunt 
tops, which have been nipped or broken off by storms in winter, or by 
the mass of snow resting on them; others have been injured at their 
base by fires made by the Indians; and others, again, have suffered 
from the axe of the white population, in. their restless search after 
everything in nature that can bring them pecuniary profit. With this 
motive one trunk has been robbed to the height of 50 feet of its bark, 
which has been carried about and exhibited in various parts of the 
world;* and a spiral staircase was afterwards cut in it, by which visitors 
(paying for their admission) ascended to a considerable height. The 
owner of this district, who also acts as guide to visitors, has given a 
name to every tree according to its position, or to some circumstance 
about it that has struck his fancy. The tree that has been cut down 
was denominated ‘‘ Big Tree; not without reason, as it is 96 feet in 
circumference, consequently 32 feet in diameter, and 300 feet high ; it 
took five men 25 days to fell it, and the only way this could be effected 
was by boring holes in it which were then brought into connection by 
the axe. The stump that was left has been smoothed at the top, and 
offers a surface on which it is said sixteen pairs of waltzers can perform 
their gyrations without interfering with one another's movements. By 
counting the rings it would seem that that tree must have attained the 
age of 3000 years. Another, called ‘‘ Miner’s Cabin,” from a hollow 

* This seems to have found a resting-place in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, 
where it forms a conspicuous object in the warm end of the building. 
