©^onc^rou/ pfant/-, 123 



Eastern travels, mentions a certain Indian island in the land of 

 Prester John, where grew wild trees which produced Apples of 

 such potent virtue that the islanders lived by the mere smell of 

 them : moreover if tliey went on a journey, the men " beren the 

 Apples with hern : for yif thei hadde lost the savour of the Apples 

 thei scholde dyen anon." In another island in the same country, 

 Sir John was told w'ere the Trees of the Sun and of the Moon that 

 spake to King Alexander, and warned him of his death. More- 

 over, it was commonly reported that " the folk that kepen the trees, 

 and eten of the frute and of the bawme that growethe there, lyven 

 wel 400 yere or 500 yere, he vertue of the fruit and of the bawme." 

 In Egypt the old traveller heard of the Apple-tree of Adam, " that 

 hav a byte at on of the sydes ; " there also he saw Pharaoh's 

 P'igs, which grew upon trees without leaves ; and there also he tells 

 us are gardens that have trees and herbs in them which bear fruit 

 seven times in the year. 



One of the most celebrated of fabulous trees is that which 

 grew in the garden of the Hesperides, and produced the golden 

 Apples which Hercules, with the assistance of Atlas, was al)le to 

 carry off. Another classic tree is that bearing the golden branch of 

 Virgil, which is by some identified with the Mistletoe. Among other 

 celebrated mythical trees may be named the prophetic Oaks of the 

 Dodonajan grove ; the Singing Tree of the ' Arabian Nights,' every 

 leaf of which was a mouth and joined in concert ; and the Poet's 

 Tree referred to by Moore, in ' Lalla Rookh,' which grows over 

 the tomb of Tan-Sein, a musician of incomparable skill at the 

 court of Akbar, and of which it is said that whoever chews a leaf 

 will have extraordinary melody of voice. 



In Bishop Fleetwood's curious work, to which reference has 

 already been made, we find many extraordinary trees and plants 

 described, some of which are perhaps worthy of a brief notice. 

 He tells 'US of a wonderful metal-sapped tree known as the 

 Mesonsidereos, which grows in Java, and even there is very scarce. 

 Instead of pith, this tree has an iron wire that comes out of the 

 root, and rises to the top of the tree. " But the best of all is, that 

 whoever carries about him a piece of this ferruginous pith is 

 invulnerable to any sword or iron whatever." In Hirnaim de Typho 

 this tree is said to produce fruit impenetrable by iron. 



There are some trees that must have fire to nourish them. 

 Methodius states that he saw on the top of the mountain 

 Gheschidago (the Olympus of the ancients), near the city of 

 Bursa, in Natolia, a lofty tree, whose roots were spread amidst 

 the fire that issues from the vents of the earth ; but whose leafy 

 and luxuriant boughs spread their shade around, in scorn of the 

 flames in the midst of which it grew. 



