One of the sights of Paris at this moment consists in the trunk of a gigantic oak placed in an iron boat especially constructed for the purpose, and moored in the Seine near the Pont de la Concorde. According to M. Ch. Thays, in the Revue Horticole, this trunk was found accidentally in the bed of the Rhone at La Balme as long ago as 1874, when, during a period when the water was low, a branch was observed sticking out above the surface. On closer examination this was found to proceed from a huge trunk embedded in the bed of the river. Not till ten years later - 1883 - was the level of the water again sufficiently lowered to enable the tree to be exhumed. Five months were occupied in the task of removing it from the bed of the river, some 10 meters of sand and gravel having had to be removed in order to liberate it. Ultimately on March 25, 1884, it was brought to shore, where the huge dimensions of the trunk were ascertained as follows: Length, 31 metres = 101.7 feet; circumference at the origin of the roots, 9 metres; circumference at the level of the soil, 6 metres. The actual weight of the tree is 55,000 kilogrammes. The age of the tree is estimated at from 400 to 450 years.

The boat, called the Drysphore, or Oak bearer, is intended to transport the tree from river to river, and we may perhaps see it moored alongside Cleopatra's Needle, whose adventures in a similar boat will be remembered by our readers.

[About 40 inches is a metre, and 2 lbs., 6 oz. a kilogramme].