Poplar.
_Sheer Hulk_ (Vol. viii., p. 126.).--This phrase is certainly correct.
_Sheer_ = mere, a hulk, and nothing else. Thus we say _sheer_ nonsense,
_sheer_ starvation, &c.; and the song says:
"Here a _sheer hulk_ lies poor Tom Bowling,
The darling of our crew," &c.
The etymology of _sheer_ is plainly from _shear_.