They were abruptly
broken off, the upright stumps projecting a few feet above the
ground. The trunks measured from three to five feet each in
circumference. They stood a little way apart from each other, but
the whole formed one group. Mr. Robert Brown has been kind enough
to examine the wood: he says it belongs to the fir tribe, partaking
of the character of the Araucarian family, but with some curious
points of affinity with the yew. The volcanic sandstone in which
the trees were embedded, and from the lower part of which they must
have sprung, had accumulated in successive thin layers around their
trunks; and the stone yet retained the impression of the bark.
It required little geological practice to interpret the marvellous
story which this scene at once unfolded; though I confess I was at
first so much astonished that I could scarcely believe the plainest
evidence. I saw the spot where a cluster of fine trees once waved
their branches on the shores of the Atlantic, when that ocean (now
driven back 700 miles) came to the foot of the Andes. I saw that
they had sprung from a volcanic soil which had been raised above
the level of the sea, and that subsequently this dry land, with its
upright trees, had been let down into the depths of the ocean.
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