168 



THE BANIAN TREE. 



Branching so broad and long, that in the ground 

 The downward twigs take root, and daughters grow 

 About the mother tree, a pillared shade, 

 High over-arched, and 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."* 



Our conversation on these subjects dropped 

 for that evening ; and it was not until we met 

 again at Mr. Longhurst's, that we had an 

 opportunity of resuming it. 



* Paradise Lost, book ix. 1. 1102. 



