CHAP. III.] 



BANYAN TREE. 



bfi 



manufacture an ingenious substitute for sacks by a pro- 

 cess which is thus described by Mr. Nimmo. 1 " A branch 

 is cut corresponding to the length and breadth of the bag 

 required, it is soaked and then beaten with clubs till the 

 liber separates from the timber. This done, the sack 

 which is thus formed out of the bark is turned inside 

 out, and drawn downwards to permit the wood to be 

 sawn off, leaving a portion to form the bottom which is 

 kept firmly in-nts place by the natural attachment of the 

 bark." 



As we descend the hills the banyans 2 and a variety of 

 figs make their appearance. They are the Thugs of the 

 vegetable world, for although not necessarily epiphytic, 

 it may be said that in point of fact no single plant comes 

 to perfection, or acquires even partial development, with- 

 out the destruction of some other on which to fix itself 

 as its supporter. The family generally make their first 

 appearance as slender roots hanging from the crown or 

 trunk of some other tree, generally a palm, among the 

 moist bases of whose leaves the seed carried thither by 

 some bird which had fed upon the fig, begins to germi- 

 nate. The root branching as it descends, envelopes the 

 trunk of the supporting tree with a network of wood, 

 and at length penetrating the ground, attains the di- 

 mensions of a stem. But unlike a stem it throws out no 

 buds, leaves, or flowers ; the true stem, with its branches, 

 its foliage, and fruit, springs upwards from the spot near 

 the crown of the tree whence the root is seen descending ; 

 and from it issue the pendulous rootlets, which, on reaching 

 the earth, fix themselves firmly and form the marvellous 

 growth for which the banyan is so celebrated. 3 In the 



1 Catalogue of Bombay Plants, 

 p. 193. The process in Ceylon is 

 thus described in Sir W. HOOKER'S 

 Report on the Vegetable Products ex- 

 hibited in Paris in 1855 : " The trees 

 chosen for the purpose measure above 

 a foot in diameter. The felled trunks 

 are cut into lengths, and the bark is 

 well beaten with a stone or a club 

 till the parenchymatous part comes 



off, leaving only the inner bark at- 

 tached to the wood ; which is thus 

 easily drawn out by the hand. The 

 bark thus obtained is fibrous and 

 tough, resembling a woven fabric : 

 it is sewn at one end into a sack, 

 which is filled with sand, and dried 

 in the sun." 



2 Ficus Indica. ' 



3 I do not remember to have seen 



