398 THE UNIVERSE. 



The banyan-tree, celebrated in India on account of the 

 veneration with which it is regarded, and of its strange 

 asjject, is still more remarkable. From its powerful hori- 

 zontal boughs fall here and there fine aerial roots like 

 simple filaments. These aj^pendages sink sloAvly to the 

 ground, as if attracted thereby, and do not enlarge till 

 they have sunk into it. But everything changes so soon 

 as they touch the soil. These slender shoots then acquire 

 a considerable increase in size, forming all round the 

 mother trunk a splendid vegetable colonnade, the mani- 

 fold pillars of which uphold an imposing vault of verdure. 

 The Brahmin sometimes places his idols beneath this rustic 

 and mysterious temple, where the Indian bows his fore- 



221. Mandragora with its Eootlets in Dry Sand, Dying. 



head towards the sacred Ganges. It is to this custom 

 that the tree owes its common name of the pagoda fig- 

 tree. 



The number of aerial roots on this fig-tree is sometimes 

 considerable, and the mother tree produces all round it 

 an impenetrable colonnade, composed of supports of all 

 sizes. There are some on which as many as 350 of these 

 great roots can be counted, to which from 2()0(» to 3000 



