THE BO-TREE. 



127 



hence is now 2,150 years old. The enormous age of the bao- 

 babs of Senegal, and of the wondrous Wellingtonias of California, 

 can only be conjectured ; but the antiquity of the Bo-tree is 

 matter of record, as its preservation has been an object of 

 solicitude to successive dynasties ; and the story of its fortunes 



THE SACRED BO-TREE OP ANARAJAPOORA. 



has been preserved in a series of continuous chronicles amongst 

 the most authentic that have been handed down by mankind. 



' Compared with it, the Oak of Ellerslie is but a sapling, and 

 the Conqueror's Oak in Windsor Forest barely numbers half 

 its years. The yew trees of Fountains Abbey are believed to 

 have flourished there 1,200 years ago ; the olives in the Garden 



