A NOTED TREE.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12681, 28 October 1909, Page 3

A NOTED TREE.

(Special to "The Colonist.") Chrlstchurch, Oct 27. One of the sights of Akaroa for many years past has been the historic "Napoleon Bonaparte willow tree," which was planted by the late Mr F Lelievresenr., (one of the original French settlers) in a property now occupied by Mr H. C. Jacobson, the proprietor of the "Akaroa Mail." The tree was uprooted by a particularly severe gust of wind during last Saturday's great storm. The story of this willow is a romantic one. An ardent Bonarpartist believer landed at St Helena in a whaling ship on which he was the cooper, and which was on its way to New Zealand, waters, and took three slips from the willow at Longwqod, where the great general was buried. It was hard to abstract slips from this much watched; tree, but he did so, and managed to get water to keep them alive, although water was not very ■■ plentiful on whaling ships. He landed at Akaroa in 1837, and planted his tree slips where the old willow has just fallen: One died and one' was afterwards transplanted to Ger- r man Bay, where' it died some^yeafs ago. Many slips' "were taken from the last of the three -and were, planted in various . partsof the Dominion. • \ '- '. — -