This stripping of the bark is repeated frequently, so that it is common to see the lower five or six feet an inch or two less in diameter than the parts above; even portions of the bark which have broken in the process of being taken off, but remain separated from the parts below, though still connected with the tree above, continue to grow, and resemble closely marks made in the necks of the cattle of the island of Mull and of Caffre oxen, where a piece of skin is detached and allowed to hang down.
No external injury, not even a fire, can destroy this tree from without; nor can any injury be done from within, as it is quite common to find it hollow; and I have seen one in which twenty or thirty men could lie down and sleep as in a hut.

Nor does cutting down exterminate it, for I saw instances in Angola in which it continued to grow in length after it was lying on the ground.

Those trees called exogenous grow by means of successive layers on the outside.

The inside may be dead, or even removed altogether, without affecting the life of the tree.

This is the case with most of the trees of our climate.