Page:Narrative of a Voyage around the World - 1843.djvu/177

1837.] pebble varied the sameness of the banks. These were, for the most part, belted with willow, ash, oak, or plane, which latter, of immense size, overhung the stream, without apparently a sufficient hold in the soil to support them, so much had the force of the stream denuded their roots.

Within, and at the verge of the banks, oaks of immense size were plentiful. These appeared to form a band on each side, about three hundred yards in depth, and within (on the immense park-like extent, which we generally explored when landing for positions) they were to be seen disposed in clumps, which served to relieve the eye, wandering over what might otherwise be described as one level plain or sea of grass. Several of these oaks were examined, and some of the smaller felled. The two most remarkable measured respectively twenty-seven feet and nineteen feet in circumference, at three feet above ground. The latter rose perpendicularly at a (computed) height of sixty feet before expanding its branches, and was truly a noble sight.

All the trees and roots on the banks afford unequivocal proofs of the power of the flood-streams, the mud line on a tree we measured exhibiting a rise of ten feet above the present level, and that of recent date.

At the period of our examination the river was probably at its lowest, and much less than I had anticipated in regard to strength, being at times