Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

Extract from a Sermon by Dr. Hugh MacMillan.

But of all the cedars the most magnificent is :th,e Sequoia gigantea of ;the. Sierra Nevada.' Sixteen years agoy a hunter was' led by tb^cbase.late in the afternoon^ to 'ft! sMutte'd 1 spot iha'foreat at- a-height of 4000 feet on the western Blope of this "great frjingej The sight which thep prejsented'itself to him almost paralysed him . with „ awe and v amazement. , Enormoufc ddr^-red trunks, between'eighty; 'and a hundred feet in eircuffiferehce,' rose up lite great circular watch-toWers between^ three and four hundred feet in the' a'irj, dwarfing aU the surrouudiag forest, their tops sgloWing'-lti the golden lustre of the gpjtmp;' simi while, the ' last' beam >, had passed away from the dusky pines below them; Like one enchanted, he hastened •to proclaim'the discovery, but was not believed, until repeated risiti; "and measurements had familiarised the world with the astounding fact. The barfrof one of the trees, called the "Mother of the Forest,'' ninety-three feet in circumference, and twenty feet high, was Stripped off to the height of ooe hundred arid'tiSri feet, and was set up in the Crystal Palace ;at Sydenham,, w%ref 'an^} destroyed; by the recent disastrous fire, it gave.the spectator a good idea of the colossal size of tHe jj^rqnt trunli. The tree called the " Fattier of the Forest," lies prostrate; half burried in the as it fell centuries ago. ■It is a most* stupendous measuring in girth at the'- base one hundred and twelve feet, and supposed to hafe. been originally four hundred and ffifty.f feet .hjghv: ■■ The, inside;■? of? the trunk is hollowed out by fire, and you can walk; through the loftycharred, vault; for. upwards of two hundred feet wiih; your hat on, and emerge at last from a knot-hole. One of the largest members of this! family-group was.out down some years ago,' after an arduous steady labour of six weeks, and its stamp-now forms the floor of a ballroom. The .colossal trees number alto-; gether about a hundred, standing within an area>of about fifty acres intermingled' Jwith * giant pinesi which appear slender! «apling9%esi:de-them. /Although 1 the tree! flourishes in rich luxuriance wherever it' is planted by the hand of man, it is confined mi: the natural order of' things' to' three isolated spcts in the' Sierfa Nevada, •, about 'fifty tmiles apart. One pi the; groves, near the headquarters of theiTdd-i lomne.ataheight of six thousand feet, contains about four, hundred trees. Another i strove, said to number Ithreei hiindredtr^es, < lies in! theMaripbsa Valley. "But. the grandest and. most impre.ss.ive in its; dharacier is that which was first discovered iin the Calaveros Valley, about one hundred, and fifty miles, east of San Francisco. Not a single tree of the kind ig known to exist anywhere else in a state of nature,; it has never spread from its limited area ;,.and what is very remarkable is that several of the living trees, between two and, three thousand years' old, have been found to be planted; astride of other trunks, entirely covered by the, gradual deposit of centuries of fallings leaves and cones. The wood of these ancient progenitors of the present giants, for such they manifestly are, is almost black, and has a dry metallic sound. " It is evident," says Bayard Taylor, who records this circumstance, " that eight, or perhaps ten thousand years have'elapsed since this race of trees first appeared on the earth." One is perfectly bewildered by the reflections'which; this mammoth grove suggests. Older than , the pyramids, it|, immemorial trees .are 'equally, sphinx-like in their mystery. The secrcjts ■of an irrecoverable past are whispered by every breeze that sighs through their branches. Gould they speak, as in J.otham'si. parable of the trees, what revelation would they give us of thai mysterious race which inhabited California and Mexico before the Delude, and whose remains-are found in the loneliest recesses of the' forest, and in the sculptured ruins of Copal, Palanque, and Uxmal;' "' what stories would they tell us of th'e'various Indian tribes, that in slow succession for thousands of years lit their fires against their trunk, and wantonly injured,what they were too rude to reverence, I Largest and oldest of; vjiving organisniij, they are indeed the offspring of the earths fresh green prime, when everyttiing was on a gigantic scale, and Megatheriums and Mastodons roamed: through Brobdingiiugiau forests. They

fioem relics of "the reign of the gymnos* perms," a Iragment of the ancient carboniferous epoch preserved in this lonely solitude amid all the cosmical changes elsewhero going on, keeping, in their annual rings of wood, the imperishable record of their growth, while human races and dynasties sprang up and perished around them. !

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THS18790705.2.21

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3238, 5 July 1879, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
774

Extract from a Sermon by Dr. Hugh MacMillan. Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3238, 5 July 1879, Page 4

Extract from a Sermon by Dr. Hugh MacMillan. Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3238, 5 July 1879, Page 4

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert