520 THE NORTHERN FORESTS. [Part IX. 



lie be accompanied by a dog, in Avhicli case the mon- 

 key, as if fascinated and forgetful of its wonted caution, 

 in its eagerness to watch the movements of the dog, 

 invariably exposes itself and falls a victim to cm^iosity. 



As the leaves nearest the ground begin to decay from 

 the larger trees, a portion of their stall^s still remain 

 attached to the trunl^. Grasping these, convolvuh, 

 ipomoeas, and other climbing plants, ascend in great 

 variety, and clothe the palm with festoons of flowers 

 and verdure. The cavities on the stem become also re- 

 ceptacles for epiphytic plants, which germinate and 

 flourish there in infinite profusion. 



The figs, and particidarly the banyan, — their seeds 

 being deposited by the birds in these recesses, — speedily 

 seize upon the palmjTa, enlacing it with their nimble 

 shoots, till they reach the earth and take root. An 

 entirely new tree is thus formed around the original 

 palm, above which the crown of the palmjTa is alone to 

 be discerned, " issuing from the trunk of the banyan, as 

 if it grew thence, whereas the palm being the older tree, 

 runs down through its centre, and has its own root in the 

 ground." ^ 



The Tamils look with increased veneration on their 

 sacred tree thus united in "marriage -with the palm." 

 Examples of this fantastic union are frequent in the topes 

 of Jaffiia, and a specimen now in the Museum of Belfast 

 of the trunk of the Borassus thus enlaced by the banyan, 

 as well as another in the collection at Kew, were pro- 

 cured by Dr. Gardner and myself in the forests I am now 

 describing. 



So multifarious are the uses of the palmyra and its 

 products to the natives of the countries favoured by its 

 growth, that the Hindus have dedicated it to Ganesa, 

 and celebrate it as the " Kalpa tree," or " tree of life," 

 of their Paradise. A Tamil poem, of which a translation 



^ rfoXBURGTI. 



