Chap. IT!.] 



BANYAX TREE. 



97 



tlirougli heaps of stones, or ascending some tall tree to the 

 height of thu-ty or forty feet, while the thickness of its 

 own stem does not exceed a quarter of an mch. 



The facihty with wliicli the seeds of the fig-tree take 

 root where there is a sufficiency of moisture to permit of 

 germination, has rendered them formidable assailants of 

 the ancient monuments throughout Ceylon. The vast 

 mounds of brickwork which constitute the remains of 

 the Dagobas at Anarajapoora and Pollanarrua are covered 

 densely with trees, among which the figs are always con- 

 spicuous. One, which has fixed itself on the walls of a 

 ruined edifice at the latter city, forms one of the most 

 remarkable objects of the place — its roots streaming 

 downwards over the walls as if their wood had once been 

 fiuid, follow every sinuosity of the building and terraces 

 till thev reach the earth. 



^ -^ _ 



A FIG-TEEE ON THE BOINS OF POLLAMARRDA. ! 



To this genus belongs the Sacred Bo-tree of the Bud- 

 dhists, Ficus religiosa, which is planted close to every 

 temple, and attracts almost as much vencrati(~)n as the 



VOL. I. 11 



