162 THE HUMAN SIDE OF TREES 



of similarity. That both the Scandinavians of 

 northern Europe and the Algonquin Indians of 

 North America should have believed that man was 

 originally created from an ash tree is a remarkable 

 coincidence. Even those religions which do not 

 give the trees such a prominent place, make fre- 

 quent and complimentary allusion to them. The 

 conception of paradise as a garden is frequent. The 

 word Bible itself means papyrus bark. The 

 Brahmins have a very beautiful saying which shows 

 that the sandal-tree by perfuming the axe which 

 lays it low teaches that we should love our enemies. 

 Conventionalised representations of sacred trees 

 appear on the Chaldean cylinders of 4000 B. C. and 

 so trace the trees' connection with religion back to 

 the earliest human records yet discovered. All the 

 great races of antiquity also accorded them a place. 

 The sycamore was held in veneration by the Egyp- 

 tians and worshipped with fruit offerings and jars 

 of water of which travellers might partake. The 

 Persians believed certain trees to be the dwelling 

 places of gods and the haunts of good and evil 

 spirits. Sacred trees appear in most of the ancient 

 sculpture and painting of Assyria. The date palm, 

 fig, pine and cedar are all represented as trees of 

 life at which the gods got their strength. The 

 palm was holy in Arabia. Brahma of India made 



