HOW I KILLED THE TIGER. 95 



admirable trees near Surat in the year 1673. In 

 the Botanical Gardens at Calcutta a Great Banyan 

 tree has been long the pride of the garden. Dr. 

 Falconer satisfactorily ascertained it to be only 

 seventy-five years old. People were alive a few 

 years ago who remembered well its site being occupied 

 in 1782 by a date-palm out of the crown of which 

 the Banyan sprouted, and beneath which a Fakir 

 sat. This tree has for the last thirty-four years 

 not increased in size, having been lopped under 

 some misapprehension. When paced by Dr. 

 Balfour in 1863 its dimensions were identical 

 with those of 1834, viz. : One hundred yards in 

 diameter, and three hundred yards in circum- 

 ference. The Banyan hardly ever vegetates on 

 the ground ; but its figs are eaten by birds, and 

 the seeds deposited in the crowns of palms, 

 where they grow, sending down roots that embrace 

 and eventually kill the palm, which decays away. 

 Had the Calcutta tree been growing in 1849 

 over the great palm-stove at Kew, only thirty 

 feet of each end of that vast structure would 

 have been uncovered. When the Banyan tree 

 embraces a date or palmyra or cocoa-nut tree, 

 and the latter are seen growing out of it, this is 

 called a marriage of the trees. These are 

 encouraged, and many are to be seen near the 

 Kistuah river. As the Banyan tree gets old, it 



