CHAPTER XI. 



pPar^fj. 



E have seen how, among the ancient races of the 

 earth, traditions existed which connected the 

 origin of man with certain trees. In the Biinde- 

 hesh, man is represented as having first appeared 

 on earth under the form of the plant Reiva 

 {Rheum ribes). In the Iranian account of man's 

 creation, the primal couple are stated to have 

 first grown up as a single tree, and at muturity 

 to have been separated and endowed with a distinct existence by 

 Ormuzd. In the Scandinavian Edda, men are represented as 

 having sprung from the Ash and Poplar. The Greeks traced the 

 origin of the human race to the maternal Ash ; and the Romans 

 regarded the Oak as the progenitor of all mankind. The con- 

 ception of human trees was present in the mind of the Prophet 

 Isaiah, when he predicted that from the stem of Jesse should come 

 forth a rod, and from his roots, a branch. The same idea is pre- 

 served in the genealogical trees of modern heraldry ; and the marked 

 analogy between man and trees has doubtless given rise to the 

 custom of planting trees at the birth of children. The old Romans 

 were wont to plant a tree at the birth of a son, and to judge of the 

 prosperity of the child by the growth and thriving of the tree. It 

 is said in the life of Virgil, that the Poplar planted at his birth 

 flourished exceedingly, and far outstripped all its contemporaries. 

 De Gubernatis records that, as a rule, in Germany, they plant 

 Apple-trees for boys, and Pear-trees for girls. In Polynesia, at 

 the birth of an infant, a Cocoa-nut tree is planted, the nodes of 

 which are supposed to indicate the number of years promised to 

 the little stranger. 



According to a legend that Hamilton found current in Central 

 India, the Khatties had this strange origin. When the five sons 

 of Fandn (the heroes whose exploits are told in the Mahdbhd- 



