176 
The Natural Fiftory of the Book VIL 
And both together went 
Into the thickeft Wood: There foon they chofe 
The Fig-tree, not that Kind for Fruit renown d; 
But fuch as at this Day to /ndians known 
In Malabar or Decan, {preads her Arms 
Branching fo broad and long, that in the Ground 
The bearded Twigs take Root, and Daughters grow 
About the Mother Tree; a pillar’d Shade 
High over-arch’d; and echoing Walks between: 
Thete oft the Indian Herd{man, fhunning Heat, 
Shelters in cool, and tends his pafturing Herds, 
At Loopholes cut through thickeft Shade. Thefe Leaves 
They gather’d broad as Amazonian Targe; 
And, with what Skill they had, together few'd 
_ To gird their Waitt. 
However noble this poetical Defcription is; yet; as to the Matter of 
Fa, it wants even Probability to countenance it; for the Leaves of this 
Tree are fo far from being of the Bignefs of an Amazonian Target, that 
they feldom or never exceed five Inches long; and not quite three broad; 
therefore we muft look for another of the Fig-Tree kind, that better anfwers 
the Charaéter given of this Tree by Mo/es: And as the Fruit of the Bana- 
na-tree is often by the moft antient Authors called a Fig, I may, I hope, 
without Prefumption add my own to the already numbetlefs Conjectures 
of others, and look upon the Fig-tree in Paradife to be no other than the 
Banana-tree; for when Pliny defcribes the fan Fig-tree, he fays its 
Leaf is maximum umbrofifimumgue; and as the Leaves of thefe are three 
Feet long, and about two broad, they may be deemed more proper than 
any for a Covering; efpecially fince they might be eafily joined together, 
with the numerous thread-like Filaments, which may without Labour be — 
peeled from the Body of this Tree. Thefe Fig-trees grow in the Eafi as 
well as the Weft-Indies. Quintus Curtius, in his Account of Alexander's 
Expedition to the Indies, excellently defcribes it. Had both the Indies 
been fo well known fome Centuries ago as they are now, that Author — 
would not have been (at leaft in this Inftance) thought fabulous. His 
Words are thefe : 
Syloe erant prope immenfuim fpatium diffufe, procerifgue & in eximam 
altitudinem editis arboribus umbrofe. Plerique rami inftar ingentium fi- 
pitum flexi in humum, rurfus, qua fe curvaverant, erigebantur, adeo Ut 
Species effet non rami refurgentis, fed arboris ex Jua radice generate. 
Quint. Curt, Lib. Ix. 
The SToPPER-BERRY Tree; Lat. MALPIGHIA. | 
TH IS grows to be a confiderable large Tree. Its Bark is of a whitifh- 
ted, and fealy, often dropping off in Flakes; the upper Branclies ate 
thickly cloathed with deep-green {mooth fhining Leaves, of about three 
Inches 
