1^2 SUMATRA. 
ter which furrounds th^- However this be, the jmtee jaWiCy without 
earth or water^ deriving fron^ the genial atniofphere it's principle of 
nourilhment, proves in it's cacreafmg growth, highly dcllrud:ive to the 
building that harbours it. The fibrous roots, wliich at firfl: arc extremely 
fine, penetrate moft, common cements, and overcoming, as their fize 
enlarges, the powerfuikft refiflance, fyVitf with the force of the me- 
chanic wedge, the moft fubftuntial brickwork. When the confidence is 
fuch as not to admit the infinuation of tiie fibres, the ivot extends itfelf 
along the outfide, and to an extraordinary length, bearing, not unfre- 
quently, to the item, the proportion of eight to one, when young. 1 
have meafured the former fix ty inches, when the latter, to the extremity 
of the leaf, which took up a third part, was no more than eight inches. 
I have alfofeen it wave it's boughs at the height of two hundred feet, 
of which the roots, if we may term them fuch, occupied at leaft one 
hundred; forming, by their cLofc combination, the appearance of a ve- 
nerable gothic pillar. It flood near the plains of Crocupy but like other 
monuments of antiquity, it had it's period of exiftence, and is now no 
