We have previously spoken of the large _Sequoiæ_ of California, which
have justly a universal celebrity, and shall now render our remarks
upon the subject completer.
If there is any sight that can throw us into mute contemplation and
show us the littleness of our own nature, it is assuredly that of high
mountains like Mont Blanc, or waterfalls like Niagara. But yet we do
not at the first instant take in all the grandeur of these, but must
make the tour of Mont Blanc, or pass under the falls of Niagara and
study it at different points in order to obtain a just idea of such
marvels. And so it is with regard to the vegetable curiosities of the
Sierra Nevada, in California.
When points for comparison fail us, our eye, one of the most imperfect
of instruments, never gives us an accurate idea of objects, and it
is for this reason that we have placed upon the annexed figure a
five-story Paris house, drawn to the same scale as the "Grizzly Giant,"
one of the most ancient _Sequoiæ_ of the Mariposa Grove, in California.
This true vegetable giant is 105 feet in diameter at the base, and 69
feet at 13 feet from the ground. It has, like many of the _Sequoiæ_
that surround it, been struck by lightning, but, in spite of that,
its total height is still more than 300 feet. Some of its branches
are more than six feet in diameter. Those who have seen our old oaks
in the forest of Fontainebleau will be able to compare the effect of
time and lightning upon such venerable relics, these in California
being possibly contemporaries of the Roman Empire. A few of the trees
have been razed to the base, and serve as floors for dancing halls,
while others, that have fallen, have been cut lengthwise and serve as
bowling alleys. What especially distinguishes the wonderful region in
which these _Sequoiæ_ grow is the cleanness and beauty of the plains
upon which they are found. In the virgin forests of South America,
under the influence of a warm and damp atmosphere, the vegetation is
so rank that, in order to open a passage, one is obliged to use an ax
on the vines and thickets of interlaced plants. In California, on the
contrary, the _Sequoiæ_, which are situated at an altitude of from
5,000 to 7,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean, are easily accessible. The
routes are almost traced by nature, dangerous animals are rare, the
summer temperature is delicious there, and hotels are everywhere being
erected, as in Switzerland, to serve as a retreat and promenading place
for tourists.--_La Nature._
[Illustration: THE "GRIZZLY GIANT," ONE OF THE CALIFORNIAN SEQUOIÆ.]
* * * * *
A CATALOGUE containing brief notices of many important scientific
papers heretofore published in the SUPPLEMENT, may be had gratis at
this office.