FAMOUS TREES OF THE WORLD. 31 
Ceylon is found at Mount Lavina, seven miles from Co- 
lombo. Two roads. run through its stems; some of its 
fibrous shoots have been trained, like the stays of a ship, 
to intercept the road, while others hang half-way down, 
with beautiful vistas of cocoa-palms seen through its 
pillar-like stems and leaves. It throws a shadow at noon 
over four acres of ground. 
Cedars are found on Mount Lebanon supposed to be 
the remains of those vast forests from which Solomon 
cut the timbers for the temple three thousand years ago. 
Maundrell counted sixteen still standing in 1696 that 
measured thirty feet, and were over one hundred feet in 
the spread of the branches. 
The feathery cocoanut and the fan-like palmyra of the 
Deccan countries of India, the hardly less beautiful date- 
tree, useful for so many purposes that it seems as if a 
native Hindoo could scarcely get through life without 
it, are all trees of world-wide note, and many specimens 
of them are famous both for size and age. The date- 
tree, besides providing the inhabitants of its vicinity 
with almost everything used in their domestic economy, 
its fruit serving them as the chief article of food, the 
stems and leaves for baskets, mats, roof-covering, and 
carpet, is the source from which they imbibe their com- 
mon drink, “tara.” Deep incisions being made in the 
trunk, a pleasant and abundant beverage exudes, both 
refreshing and invigorating if drank while fresh, but in- 
toxicating if allowed to ferment by exposure to the trop- 
ical sun. The tara is much sought for when in the fer- 
mented state by the English soldiers, and causes many 
of the irregularities and crimes recorded. of the troops 
in India. Indeed, it is said that a camp pitched near a 
“toddy tope,” or date grove, is sure to be disorderly. 
Among the trees having claim to historic fame, none 
are more worthily celebrated in our own country than 
the “Charter Oak” of Hartford, Connecticut, in which 
was concealed from British tyranny (1687) the charter 
