AFRICAN BANYAN TREES. 1 99 



are very similar to those of an old specimen of the 

 Ficus Elastica, or Asiatic caoutchouc tree ; they have 

 the same dark green, glossy appearance, but are some- 

 what shorter and rounder in the point than those of 

 the latter; and the foliage which grows thickly when 

 the tree is in robust health, affords a most gratifying 

 shade in hot weather. In the following lines from 

 Paradise Lost, it seems most probable that Milton 

 must make allusion to a tree of the Banyan species, 

 when he says: 



"So counselled he, and both together went 

 Into the thickest wood: there soon they chose 

 The fig tree, not that kind for food renowned, 

 But such as at this day, to Indians known, 

 In Malabar, or Deccan, spreads her arms, 

 Branching so broad and long, that in the ground 

 The tender twigs take root, and daughters grow 

 About the mother tree, a pillar'd shade, 

 High over-arched, and echoing walks between ; 

 There oft the Indian herdsman shunning heat 

 Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds."* 



Dr. Livingstone, in his "African Travels," also men- 

 tions a magnificent banyan tree, which he saw growing 

 in a village on the River Shire, near its entry into 

 Lake Nyassa. f And he states that many fine trees 

 of the same species are found dotted over the country, 

 and that this tree "has been held sacred in Africa 

 from the remotest times." We venture to think, 

 however, what Dr. Livingstone saw were probably 

 specimens of the species known as " Kigelia Pinnata" 



* Milton's Paradise Lost, Book ix. 



f See The Expedition to the Zambesi, by David Livingstone, 1868, 

 p. 124. Ibid., p. 1 88. 



