great part of the year, with two or three feet depth of 
water; and that part of the trunk which is subject to be 
under water, and four or five feet higher up, is greatly 
enlarged by prodigious buttresses, or pilasters, which, 
in full grown trees, project on every side, to such a dis- 
tance, that several men might easily hide themselves in 
the hollows between. Each pilaster terminates under 
ground, in a very large, strong, serpentine root, which 
strikes off and, branches every way, just under the surface 
of the earth: and from these roots grow woody cones, 
called cypress knees, four, five, and six feet high, and 
from six to eighteen inches and two feet in diameter at 
their bases. The large ones are hollow, and serve very 
well for bee-hives ; a small space of the tree itself is hol- 
low, nearly as high as the buttresses already mentioned. 
From this place, the tree, as it were takes another begin- 
ning, forming a grand straight column eighty or ninety 
feet high, when it divides every way around into an ex- 
tensive flat horizontal top, like an umbrella, where eagles 
have their secure nests, and cranes and storks their tem- 
porary resting places; and what adds to the magnifi- 
cence of their appearance is the streamers of long moss 
that hang from the lofty limbs and float in the winds. 
This is their majestic appearance when standing alone, 
in large rice plantations, or thinly planted on the banks 
of great rivers.” 
W. Bartram, Travels 88. 1792. 
86 
