108 TROPICAL PLANTS 



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 

 3000, each constantly sending forth branches and hanging roots, 

 to form other trunks and become the parents of a future pro- 

 geny. 



" About a century ago a neighbouring rajah, who was ex- 

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

 magnificent style, having a saloon, drawingroom, dining room, 

 bedchamber, 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 

 7000 men." * 



Such is the banyan — more wonderful, and infinitely more 

 beautiful and majestic, than all the temples and palaces which 

 the pride of the Moguls has ever reared I 



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

 ligiosa), which differs from the banyan (F, indica) by send- 

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

 Buddhists as the sacred plant, under whose shade Grotama, the 

 founder of their religion, reclined when he underwent his divine 

 transfiguration. 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 the mysterious scene 

 of which they were the witnesses. 



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 hence 

 is now 2150 years old. The enormous age of the baobabs of Sene- 

 gal, 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 has been preserved 

 in a series of continuous chronicles amongst the most authentic 

 that have been handed down by mankind. 



* Forbes's " Oriental Memoirs." 



