^4 ISLES OF SUMMER. 



taking root, and every new growth and stem being still a Y>aYi 

 of the parent tree to which it is ligamented as were tlie Siamese 

 twins." No doubt Mr. McArthur visited the tree he has under- 

 taken to describe, and being a man of ability and literary culture, 

 his testimony is that of a credible witness — and yet, he is con- 

 tradicted by the facts. He was, as all are who see it, astonished 

 and delighted to find a tree possessing such a peculiar habit of 

 growth, and multiplying itself into a large grove or small forest 

 But he failed to make such a close and critical examination us 

 was necessary in order to enable him to enlighten his readers in 

 regard to the method by which the singular result is produced. 

 Had he done so, he would have discovered that the branches do 

 not "turn down to the earth and take root," nor does "its 

 top strike down and take root,"' but from the outstretching 

 branches, at various distances from the stem or trunk, 7'oots de- 

 scend a distance of from ten to fifteen feet through the air, fasten 

 to tJie rocky bottom, enlarge from year to year, and thus by sin- 

 gle and clustered living columns support the immense branches 

 from which as roots they descended. These roots thicken and 

 enlarge as they grow, and we saw some on their way to the sur- 

 face rocks from one to three inches in diameter, bearded at the 

 end with a long hairy fibrous covering, which, we presume, ab- 

 sorb nutriment from the surrounding air. 



Milton makes a similar mistake, and if he did not originate 

 the error he has given it a wide circulation. He refers to the 

 J^iciis Indica, but this tree also is extended by means of roots 

 which the lateral branches send down to the ground from an 

 elevation above it of a number of yards. In the following lines 

 in Paradise Lost ho has, in describing it, drawn in this respect 

 upon his imagination; 



