126 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



Many of these beautiful trees have acquired an historic cele- 

 brity; and the famous Cubbeer-burr, on the banks of the 

 Nerbuddah, thus called by the Hindoos in memory of a favour- 

 ite saint, is supposed to be the same as that described by 

 Nearchus, the Admiral of Alexander the Grreat, as being able 

 to shelter an army under its far-spreading shade. ' High floods 

 have at various times swept away a considerable part of this 

 extraordinary tree, but what still remains is near 2,000 feet in 

 circumference, measured round the principal stems ; the over- 

 hanging branches not yet struck down cover a much larger 

 space ; and under it grow a number of custard-apple and other 

 fruit trees. The large trunks of this single colossus amount to 

 a greater number than the days of the year, and the smaller 

 ones exceed 3,000, each constantly sending forth branches and 

 hanging roots to form other trunks and become the parents of 

 a future progeny. 



' About a century ago a neighbouring rajah, w^ho was ex- 

 tremely fond of field diversions, used to encamp under it in a 

 magnificent style, having a saloon, drawing-room, dining-room, 

 bed-chamber, bath, kitchen, and every other accommodation, 

 all in separate tents ; yet the noble tree not only covered the 

 whole, together with his carriages, horses, camels, guards, and 

 attendants, but also afforded with its spreading branches shady 

 spots for the tents of his friends, with their servants and cattle. 

 And in the march of an army it has been known to shelter 

 7,000 men.' * Such is the banyan — more wonderful than all 

 the temples and palaces which the pride of the Moguls has 

 ever reared ! 



The nearly related Pippul of India, or Bo-tree {Ficus re- 

 ligiosa), which differs from the banyan {F. indica) by sending 

 down no roots from its branches, is reverenced by the Buddhists 

 as the sacred plant, under whose shade G^autma, the founder of 

 their religion, reclined when he underwent his divine trans- 

 figuration. Its heart-shaped leaves, which, like those of the 

 aspen, appear in the profoundest calm to be ever in motion, are 

 supposed to tremble in recollection of that mysterious scene. 



The sacred Pippul at Anarajapoora, the fallen capital of the 

 ancient kings of Ceylon, is probably the oldest historical tree 

 in the world ; as it was planted 288 years before Christ, and 



* Forbes's ' Oriental Memoirs.' 



