I 



SYCAMORE OF THE SCRIPTURES. 47 



heer Buny which was given it in honour of a famous saint. It was 

 oiice much larger than at present ; but high floods have carried 

 away tiie banks of the island where it grows, and with them such, 

 parts of the tree as had thus far extended their roots; yet what re- 

 mains is about 2000 feet in circumference, measured round the prin- 

 cipal stems ; the overhanging branches, not yet struck down, cover a 

 much larger space. The chief trunks of this single tree (which in 

 size greatly exceed our English elms and oaks), amount to 350; the 

 smaller stems, forming into stronger supporters, are more than 

 3000; and everyone of these is casting out new branches, and 

 hanging roots, in time to form trunks, and become the parents of a 

 future progeny. Cubbeer Burr is famed throughout Hindostau for 

 its great extent and surpassing beauty : the Indian armies generally 

 encamp around it, and at stated seasons, solemn jatarras, or Hindoo 

 festivals are held there, to which thousands of votaries repair from 

 various parts of the Mogul empire. It is said that 7000 persons 

 find ample room to repose under its shade. The English gentlemen, 

 on their hunting and shooting parties, used to form extensive en- 

 campments, and spend weeks together under this delightful paviliou ; 

 which is generally filled with green wood -pigeons, doves, peacocks, 

 and a variety of feathered songsters ; crowded with families of 

 monkeys performing their antic tricks, and shaded by bats of a iarge 

 size, many of them measuring upwards of six feet from the extremity 

 of one wing to the other. This tree not only affords shelter, but 

 sustenance, to all its inhabitants, being covered amidst its bright 

 foliage with small figs of a rich scarlet, on which they all regale 

 with as much delight as the lords of creation on their more various 

 and costly fare. 



2. Sycamore of the Scriptures. 



Ficus Sycamorus. 



According to Hasselquist, this is a huge tree, the stem being often 

 50 feet round. The fruit is pierced in a remarkable manner by an 

 insect. There is an opening made iu the calyx near the time the 

 fruit ripens, which is occasioned in two different ways : 1. When 

 tiie squamae, which cover the calyx, wither and are bent back, 

 which, however, is more common to the carica than the sycamore. 

 2. A little below the scales, on the side of the flower-cup, there 



