RELIGION IN THE PLANT WORLD 
wood tells of remarkable instances of modern 
flower worship he saw in Bombay. In describ- 
ing the Victoria Gardens, he says: “Presently, 
a true Persian, in flowing robes of blue, and on 
his head his sheep-skin hat, ‘black, glossy, curl’d, 
the fleece of Kar-kal’, would saunter in, and 
stand and meditate over every flower he saw, 
and always, as if half in vision. And when the 
vision was fulfilled, and the flower he was seek- 
ing found, he would spread his mat and sit be- 
fore it until the setting of the sun, then fold 
up his mat again and night after night, until 
that particular flower faded away, he would re- 
turn to it, and bring his friends in ever-increas- 
ing troupes to it, and sit and play the guitar or 
lute before it, and they would altogether pray 
there, and after praying still sit before it, sip- 
ping sherbet, and talking the most hilarious and 
shocking scandal late into the moonlight; and 
so again and again every evening until the 
flower died. Sometimes, by way of grand finalé 
the whole company would suddenly rise before 
the flower and serenade it together, with an 
ode from Hafiz, and then depart.” 
[153] 
