8 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
As the men's legs dangled in tlie water, just as do those of men 
wlio cross rivers on inflated skins or mussaclcs, the reference to croco- 
diles becomes intelligible ; and it is possible that tbe cylinder of 
bamboo might have some deterrent influence upon them, as it might 
seem to be a trap. 
Of course the connexion with the story by Herodotus is not really 
very close, as his, I think, certainly referred to boats made of the palm. 
The Pakebon Teee (UdprjPov). 
Ficus religiosa^ Linn. — Pipal^ Hin. Bo^ Sansk. 
In my identification of this tree, I omitted to point out that the 
Ficus religiosa is the lo tree of the early Buddhists. It was therefore 
one which would naturally have been brought under the special notice 
of the Greeks. Moreover, it seems probable that in the name parehon 
we have incorporated the Sanskrit name ho ; and this seems a more 
probable derivation than that it is from pipul, or pipun^ as it is 
sometimes pronounced. 
The famous lo tree of Ceylon, described by Sir Emerson Tennent^® 
and many others, was planted in 288 b. c., and is undoubtedly the 
oldest existing vegetable with a recorded history. 
The ascription to the juice of the parehon tree, by Ktesias, of the 
property of thickening water or wine when dropped into them, was, 
possibly, an error ; but there is a plant in Ceylon which possesses the 
property in a remarkable degree. It is the lakatoo^ or Pedalium murex 
(INat. Ord. Pedaliaceae), of which Sir Emerson Tennent^'^ has written 
as follows : — If bits of the stem, leaves, and roots, be mixed for a few 
seconds in milk or water, the liquid turns thick and mucilaginous ; so 
much so, that water in this state can be raised by the hand several feet 
out of a basin, and let fall back without noise ; and this without impart- 
ing any colour, taste, or smell to the fluid, which returns to its natural 
state in about ten or fifteen minutes afterwards. The Singhalese take 
advantage of this peculiarity of the hahatoo to thicken the milk sent 
round to Europeans." 
[KOTE ADDED IN THE PeESS. 
1^ Ceylon^ vol. ii., p. 613. 
" Op. cit., p. 160. 
