THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



5 



clan died, fire was set to one of its trees. As the flames 

 mounted upward, fed by the accumulation of dead leaves, the 

 spirit of the tree was believed to be released, and taking its 

 place by the departed spirit of the man, became his servant in 

 death as its outward form had been his servant in life. So 

 its grateful shade moved with him and protected him from 

 the sun on his journey across the treeless sands to his long 

 home. This latter explanation is discredited by the ''practical 

 man," but the folk-lorist and the poet do not find it incon- 

 sistent with the Indian's habit of thought. 



Pasadena, Cal. 



