Page:Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies.djvu/151

1832.] Milligan and I accompanied him as far as Emu Bay.—On an old road called the Lopham-road, a few miles from the Bay, we measured some Stringy-bark trees, taking their circumference at about 5 feet from the ground. One of these, which was rather hollow at the bottom, and broken at the top, was 49 feet round; another that was solid, and supposed to be 200 feet high, was 41 feet round; and a third, supposed to be 250 feet high, was 55½ feet round. As this tree spread much at the base, it would be nearly 70 feet in circumference at the surface of the ground. My companions spoke to each other, when at the opposite side of this tree to myself, and their voices sounded so distant that I concluded they had inadvertantly left me, to see some other object, and Immediately called to them. They, in answer, remarked the distant sound of my voice, and inquired if I were behind the tree!—When the road through this forest was forming, a man who had only about 200 yards to go, from one company of the work-people to another, lost himself: he called, and was repeatedly answered; but getting further astray, his voice became more indistinct, till it ceased to be heard, and he perished. The largest trees do not always carry up their width in proportion to their height, but many that are mere spars, are 200 feet high.

The following measurement and enumeration of trees growing on two separate acres of ground in the Emu Bay forest, made by the late Henry Hellyer, the Surveyor to the V. D. Land Company, may give some idea of its density.