70 THE BANYAN TREE. 



Indies. My tree produces fruit constantly. Taste it: the 

 flavor, as well as the smell, precisely resembles the otto of 

 roses; and the tree, laden with its round yellow fruit, has a 

 very pretty effect; but the dryness of the fruit renders it unfit 

 for eating, though it is sometimes used to feed pigs, who de- 

 vour it greedily. This, too, is a tree which will be interest- 

 ing to you, as it is one of those which afford the Indian 

 rubber. 



HENRIETTA. 



Is there more than one tree which produces it? 



Yes, several. They are mostly included in the families 

 Euphorbiaceae, Urticesc, Jlpocyneac, and Campanulaceae.* This 

 is the Ficus elasticus; prick either the bark or the leaf, and you 

 will see a white, glutinous liquid issue from it, which hardens 

 by exposure to the air. But here is another species of Ficus, 

 which you know well by name, but of which this is but 

 a miniature representation; the celebrated Banyan treef of the 

 East Indies. 



Banyan Tree. 

 ESTHER. 



I remember Milton's description of it very 



* The Indian rubber of commerce comes from Hevea Cahuchu, 

 Lobelia Caoutcha, Castilloa elastica, Ficus and Urceola elastica, 

 &c. (Humboldt, Voyage aux Regions .ZEquinoctiales, vol. vii. p. 

 330.) 



f Ficus Indica. 



