Etna has many
points of interest for all classes of scientific men, and not least for
the student of arboriculture. It bears at the height of 4000 feet above
the level of the sea a wonderful growth--a very large tree--which is
claimed by some to be the oldest tree in the world. It is a venerable
chestnut, and known as "the father of the forest." It is certainly one
of the most remarkable as well as celebrated of trees. It consists not
of one vast trunk, but of a cluster of smaller decayed trees or portions
of trees growing in a circle, each with a hollow trunk of great
antiquity, covered with ferns or ivy, and stretching out a few gnarled
branches with scanty foliage. That it is one tree seems to be evident
from the growth of the bark only on the outside. It is said that
excavations about the roots of the tree showed these various stems to be
united at a very small depth below the surface of the ground. It still
bears rich foliage and much small fruit, though the heart of the trunk
is decayed, and a public road leads through it wide enough for two
coaches to drive abreast. Travelers have differed in their measurements
of this stupendous growth. Admiral Smyth, who takes the lowest estimate,
giving 163 feet, and Brydone giving, as the highest, 204 feet.
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