THE BAlsTYAN TREE. 85 



mncli his inferior in climbing trees discovers and captnres him. 

 Tliougli higher in tlie scale of life, and ronnding out a larger 

 and more showy link, man, in ways equally stubborn and stupid, 

 often rushes npon and invites his own destruction. Let ns there- 

 fore, pity these unfortunates, and not laugh at them. 



A specimen of the Ficus Indica, or banyan tree of India, is 

 erroneonsly supposed to exist near Nassau, and sti'angers often 

 leave that city lirmly convinced that they have added to their 

 new and pleasant experiences a personal acquaintance with that 

 famous tree of the Orient. An intelligent native merchant of 

 Nassau, who is officially connected with our own Government, 

 informed us that the (so-called) banyan tree near Nassau had 

 been imported — that it bore no fruit, and that it is the only gen- 

 uine India banyan tree upon the island of New Providence. 

 He did not intentionally misrepresent, and would generally be 

 considered good authority, but he was mistaken. Confident that 

 we had seen little figs growing upon the tree in question, we 

 visited it again, examined it more critically, and severed and 

 carried away from it branches of Avild ligs in every stage of de- 

 velopment. It is a species of the Ficus, has the same habit of 

 growth with the Ficus Indica, but is identical in kind with the 

 other wild fig trees upon the island of New Providence, and ex- 

 hibits far more strikingly than any of the others those pcculiai'- 

 ities which have made the banyan tree of India so famous. 



An intelligent and pleasing correspondent of the Troy Budget 

 (the Hon. C. L. ]\IcArthur) writes concerning the Nassau ban- 

 yan tree, that ''after its main limbs have grown out from its 

 trunk some twenty or*tliirty feet, the hranches turn down to the 

 earth, taking root, and forming a column of support for its pa- 

 rent branch, as well as another tree of itself.'' "It is a very 

 curious tree, furnishing friendly shade, ever extending by new 

 trunks, ever widening its circle by its to}) striking down wid 



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