124 HOURS WITH NATURE. 



reach the ground as quickly as possible, sending down 

 guy-lines in all directions ; whereas the rootlets are busy 

 searching for holes and crevices to insinuate themselves 

 into the soft soil. Let us look at them somewhat close- 

 ly and narrowly. Here, a set of thread-like small roots 

 have reached the hard surface of a brick, and having 

 found out their mistake are retracing their steps as it 

 were, and creeping down its sides in a network of loops ; 

 others have just touched the bricks and stones, felt 

 their hardness and avoided them. On the other hand, 

 some bolder spirits among them have marched right 

 across the bricks and stones to reach the common 

 destination, the mother earth. Some invisible yet loving 

 hand helps and guides these tiny rootlets in their pro- 

 gress through dark holes and crevices, and in their 

 search after the prime necessity of life the water. 



It is not only the roots, or the parts adjacent to 

 them that drink the water, but every part of the tree, 

 even the tiniest leaf, at the very top of the tree 

 which in the case of the ashwathwa is at least forty 

 to fifty feet above the level of the ground, receives 

 an adequate quantity of the moisture which the 

 roots suck up. The way in which the tree manages 

 to accomplish the work of raising and distributing 

 water to such a height is very curious indeed ; and 

 we have an interesting example of it in the water 

 supply of large towns and cities. First, there is the 

 system of pipes for the conveyance of water ; then, 

 there is the motive power supplied by complicated 



