nd
there long; for you see it is mighty straight in the grain, and would
split like a ribbon."

Thus was this gigantic specimen of the primeval forest preserved for a
time, because there was not a saw long enough to cut it through in
Canada. I dare say there are many old oaks in England that exceed this
in diameter; but I do not believe one is to be found whose length of
trunk can be at all compared to it.

On the flats about a mile from the mouth of the Maitland, are some very
large button-wood trees. There is one, in particular, growing near a
fine spring of water, the circumference of which appeared very vast,
though I did not measure it; but the tree was a complete shell, and had
a sort of natural arched doorway, just high enough to admit a full-
sized man. I was once inside this tree with Dr. Dunlop and eleven other
persons, at the same time. The trunk of this tree forked at twelve or
fourteen feet from the ground. There are several others of this species
near to the one I have described, of very large growth, which
apparently are sound, but not equalling it in size.

I left a noble oak-tree standing in the middle of one of my fields in
the township of Douro, which I hoped I should have been able to
preserve, as it was such a remarkably fine tree. It, however, was
doomed to destruction; for in the summer of 1838, it was twice struck
with lightning in the space of a week. The first time, the bark only
was furrowed by the electric fluid, but at the second stroke it was
split from the top to the bottom, and thrown down by the violence of
the shock. I measured this tree correctly, and found the diameter,
twenty-four feet from the ground, to be five feet three inches. The
length of the trunk was forty-eight feet up to the first branch, and it
was perfectly sound to within three or four feet of the soil.

Generally speaking, the white or American pine, from its vast length of
trunk, contains a larger number of cubic feet than any other tree in
the Canadian forest. I have seen several of these pines sold for masts,
the trunks of which were upwards of one hundred feet in length, and
full three feet in diameter, a third of the way up from the butt-end.
There is very little pine-timber on the Huron tract, which, though a
disadvantage in regard to building, is all the better in respect to the
land, hard wood being the best indication of a good soil.

I did not--as I have said--regret my transfer to Goderich, though that