RELIGIOUS TREES 161 



and refreshed them in times of heat, were all objects 

 of their worship, why not the trees, which also pro- 

 tected them from the noon-day sun and with their 

 fruit, bark, leaves and sap often clothed their bodies, 

 built their houses and furnished their food? 



The lofty and spiritual appearance of many trees 

 would also tend to excite reverence. The slenderly 

 tapering loblolly bay, with its ethereal leaves and 

 pure white blossoms, is a veritable call to worship. 

 Its wax-like flowers are candles on nature's altar. 



It is reasonable to assume that only during the 

 veritable beginnings of the human race were trees 

 the direct recipients of man's worship. It was not 

 long before certain trees became the sign and sym- 

 bol of more remote forces and deities, and their 

 groves the temples in which devotion was shown. 

 The trees were often regarded as the actual abode 

 of certain spirits sometimes gods to be adored and 

 revered, sometimes spirits or demons to be feared 

 and appeased. 



It is a curious fact that many of the great re- 

 ligions of ancient peoples converge upon the con- 

 ception of a divinely endowed tree guarded by a 

 serpent. This tree was usually the tree of life and 

 knowledge and sometimes the upholder of the 

 world. The tree of life in the Garden of Eden and 

 the Scandinavian tree of the universe have points 



