THE BANYAN TREE. 



477 



Common Savin (j. sahina) . This plant, which 

 only attains the size of a few feet in this country, 

 is found as a tree in some of the Greek islands. 

 The leaves and tops hare a strong heavy disa- 

 greeahle odour, and a bitter hot taste, with a 

 considerable degree of acrimony. These quali- 

 ties depend upon an essential oil, which is 

 obtained in considerable quantity by distillation 

 with water. Both water and alcohol extract its 

 active principles. Savin is used in medicine as 

 a powerful stimulant, both internally and exter- 

 nally, when applied to the skin. 



Chrni Olibanum, supposed to be the incense of 

 the ancients, and the substance now used in the 

 Catholic churches, is supposed to be the product 

 of the ^'. licia. 



Somewhat allied to the conifers is the family 

 of plants myrica, or candlelerry myrtles. One 

 of these, the sweet gale (myrica gale), is com- 

 mon and very abundant in bogs and marshes in 

 Scotland. It is a small shrub, with leaves some- 

 what like the myrtle or willow, of a fragrant 

 odour and bitter taste, and yielding an essential 

 oil by distillation. The northern natives for- 

 merly used this plant instead of hops; and it is 

 stOl in use for that purpose in some of the west- 

 ern islands, and in some parts of the Highlands 

 of Scotland. Unless it be boiled for a long time 

 it is said to cause headache. The catkins, or 

 cones, boiled in water, throw up a scum resem- 

 bling bees wax, which, collected in sufficient 

 quantities, would make candles. The plant is 

 used to tan calf skins. Gathered in the autumn, 

 it dyes wool a yellow colour, and is used for this 

 purpose both in Sweden and Wales. The Swedes 

 sometimes use a strong decoction to kill insects 

 and vermin, and to cure the itch. An infusion 

 of the leaves is also used as a vermifuge, and the 

 dried leaves are generally employed to scent 

 linen and other clothes. It is also made into 

 brooms, and used as firewood to heat ovens. 

 Horses and goats eat it, while sheep and cows 

 refuse it. 



Myrica Cerifera, or Tallow Shr-ub, is common 

 in North America, where candles are made from 

 the waxy substance collected from a decoction 

 of the fruit or berry. It grows abundantly in a 

 wet soil, and seems to thrive particularly well in 

 the neighbourhood of the sea, nor does it seem 

 ever to be found high up in the country. The 

 berries intended for making candles are gathered 

 late in autumn, and are thrown into a pot of 

 boiling water, where the fatty or waxy substance 

 floats on the top, and is skimmed off. When 

 congealed, this substance is of a dirty green 

 colour, somewhat intermediate in its nature 

 between wax and tallow. After being again 

 melted and refined, it assumes a transparent 

 green hue. This substance, mixed with a pro- 

 portion of tallow, forms candles, which burn 

 better and slower than common tallow ones, and 



do not run so much in hot weather. They have, 

 also, very little smoke, and emit a rather agree- 

 able odour. A soap is also made of this sub- 

 stance, which has an agreeable scent, and is well 

 adapted for a shaving soap, and is used by sur- 

 geons for plasters. In Carolina they likewise 

 make a sealing wax from these berries. The 

 root is used as a cure for toothache. 



All the species grow well and readily in peat 

 soil or sandy loam, in a moist situation. They 

 are propagated by seeds or layers, but not readily 

 by cuttings. 



M. cerifera has been cultivated in France and 

 in Germany, where it grows in the open air ; 

 and where, in many waste marshy situations, it 

 might prove a profitable object of culture. 



CHAP. XLV. 



THE BANYAN TREE, BAOBAB. 



We have in the foregoing chapters described 

 the most useful trees, and in this shall consider 

 some of the more remarkable and curious. 



The Banyan Tree (flcus Indica)* This 

 singular tree belongs to the family of figs, natu- 

 ral order, urticece. It is a native of India; and 

 it and another species ff, religiosa), are held in 

 such veneration by the Hindoos, that if a person 

 cuts or lops off any of the branches, he is looked 

 xipon with as great abhon-ence as if he had broken 

 the leg of one of their equally sacred cows. 



This remarkable tree was known to the ancients, 

 Strabo describes it, and states very accurately that 

 after the branches have extended about twelve 

 feet horizontally, they shoot down in the direc- 

 tion of the earth, and there root themselves ; and 

 when they have attained maturity, they propagate 

 inward in the same manner, till the whole becomes 

 like a tent supported by many columns. This 

 tree is also noticed by Pliny with a minute accu- 

 racy, which has been confirmed by the observa- 

 tions of modern travellers ; and Milton has ren- 

 dered the description of the ancient naturalist 

 almost literally, in the following beautiful pas- 

 sage : — 



" Branching so broad along, that in the ground 

 The bending twigs take root ; and daughters grow 

 About the mother tree ; a pillared shade, 

 High over-arched, with echoing walks between. 

 There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat, 

 Shelters in cool; and tends his pasturing herds 

 At loop-holes cut through thickest shade." 



Another poet also describes it thus :^ 



" 'Twas a fair scene wherein they stood, 

 A green and sunny glade amid tlie wood. 

 And in the midst an aged Banian grew, 



* For a figure of this tree, see Plate X[. 



