GENERAL NOTES. 131 
dropped, San Pietro became sampier, and from that samphire. 
The next to engage your attention is the Iron Wood tree (A/esua 
jferrea), one of the most beautiful trees in Ceylon, whether 
adorned by its splendid masses of young foliage, at first of a 
delicate pink hue, changing to a deep blood colour, or covered 
with its blosoms like white roses, with ivory white petals, and deep 
golden coloured stamens, which possess a delicious perfume, and 
have been placed by the Hindus in the quiver of Camadeva, the 
Indian Cupid. In the Sanscrit poem called Naishadba, there is 
a wild but elegant couplet, where the poem compares the white 
corolla of the Mesua, from which the bees were scattering the 
pollen of the numerous gold-coloured anthers to an alabaster 
wheel, on which Camadeva was whetting his arrows, while sparks 
of fire were dispersed in every direction, These flowers are pre- 
sented as New Year’s gifts by the Burmese, accompanied with 
wishes for “a happy new year.’ And the tree itself is much 
venerated by them, as it is recorded in the Buddhist scriptures 
that Aramaitriya, the coming Buddh, and the fifth and last of 
the present dispensation, will enter upon divine life while musing 
beneath its hallowed shade. In Ceylon the tree is planted by 
the priests near every Buddhist temple, and it is said to be for 
for the sake of its flowers, with which they decorate the images 
of Buddha. The flowers present a singular contrast with the 
deep crimson of the young foliage and the dark green above and 
silvery colour underneath of the old leaves. The seeds of the 
Mesua ferrea are like chestnuts in size, form, and colour, and 
also in character, so that they are eaten as a dessert fruit. 
This is mimicry, as the tree belongs to the same family as the 
gamboge and mangosteen, while the true chestnut is classed 
with the oaks. The last I shall have to notice is the Bo Tree 
(Ficus religiosa) under whose shade Gautama attained perfect 
knowledge ; it is dedicated to him, and every preceding Buddha 
had also an appropriate tree. The next and last Buddha will 
attain supreme intelligence under the MWesua ferrea, the beautiful 
Iron Wood tree. A cutting of the original Bo tree is said to 
have been taken from Burmah to Ceylon 245 years before Christ 
and planted at Anuradhapura. The cutting was brought by the 
daughter of King Asoka, who followed her brother to Ceylon, 
where he had preceded her a few years as the first Buddhist 
missionary to that island. The tree which sprang from this cut- 
ting still exists at the place where it was planted, and is the 
oldest known tree in the world, its age being now 2123 years. 
Its age is not like other ancient trees—a matter of conjecture, 
but a subject of record ; its conservancy has been an object of 
solicitude to successive dynasties, and the story ofits vicissitudes 
has been preserved in a series of continuous chronicles, amongst 
the most authentic that have been handed down by mankind. 
Its green old age would almost seem to verify the prophecy pro- 
nounced when it was planted, that ‘it would flourish and be 
green for ever. | Gautama’s Bo tree is said to have sprung 
miraculously from the earth at the moment of his birth, and js 
