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THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



ference of forty-five feet ; and according to Sir George Staunton, 

 the trunk had still a diameter of four yards, at an elevation of 

 ten feet above the ground. The whole height of the tree 

 was not much above sixty-five feet. The trunk divided in 

 numerous upright branches, terminating in tufts of evergreen 

 leaves, resembling those of the pine-apple. 



Next to the baobab and the dracsena, the Sycamore {Ficus 

 Sycomorus) holds a conspicuous rank among the giant trees of 

 Africa. It attains a height of only forty or fifty feet, but in 



the course of many centm'ies its trunk swells to a colossal 

 size, and its vast crown covers a large space of-ground with an 

 impenetrable shade. Its leaves are about four inches long and 

 as many broad, and its figs have an excellent flavour. In Egypt 

 it is almost the only grove-forming tree ; and most of the 

 mummy coffins are made of its incorruptible wood. 



No baobab rears its monstrous trunk on the banks of the 

 Ganges ; no dragon-tree of patriarchal age here reminds the 

 wanderer of centuries long past ; but the beautiful and stately 

 Banyan {Ficus indica) gives him but little reason to regret 

 their absence. Each tree is in itself a grove, and some of them 

 are of an astonishing size, as they are continually increasing, and. 



