THE CRIMSON TOPAZ. 79 



and mount upwards ; but when it became 

 a fig-tree yielding fruit, it also, though a 

 parasite, became the abode of other para- 

 sites. The birds, as they flocked to it, 

 dropped seeds that began to grow upon 

 its branches, as its own seed had grown 

 upon the mora-tree. Thus parasite after 

 parasite took hold on each other, and all 

 were maintained by the sap and juices of 

 the mora ! 



But the tree, thus encumbered, cannot 

 long support its burdens. After a time 

 it will languish and decay. And then the 

 whole brood of parasites, cut off* from their 

 supplies, will perish with it. Often, in the 

 forest, the traveller stands to gaze on a 

 tree so covered with parasites that not a 

 vestige of the trunk or the branches can 

 be seen. 



Some of these parasites bear flowers of 

 brilliant beauty, that seem to start, as by 



