The general size however of the different species of fir far exceeds any thing on the east side of the Rocky Mountains; and prime sound pine from two hundred to two hundred and eighty feet in height, and from twenty to forty feet in circumference, are by no means uncommon.
Buffon asserts that "living nature is less active, less energetic in the new world than the old," which he attributes to the prevalence of moisture and deficiency of heat in America. This assertion was ably combated by the late Mr. Jefferson; but, without entering into the arguments of these celebrated philosophers, we may safely state, that if America be inferior to the old continent in the animal world, she can at least assert her superiority in the vegetable.
En passant, I may here remark, that although constant rains prevail eight months out of the twelve, and during the remaining four, which are the summer months, the heat is far from excessive, the large and stately elk, which are numerous about the lower shores of the Columbia, are equal, if not superior in size to those found in the hottest and driest parts of the world.
There are five or six different species of fir,
- [Footnote: *cumference of which is 57 feet; its height 216 feet without
branches!]
