ROOTS OF A BANYAN TREE. 
105 
tumbling down, from the constant concussion occasion- 
ed by boats striking against it when borne rapidly 
down the current. We witnessed several of these 
earthy avalanches, one or two of which fell so near 
us as to endanger our budgerow ; our apprehensions, 
therefore, were not of the most agreeable kind, until 
the elevation of the banks began to decline, and the 
danger was thus proportionably diminished. At this 
part of our progress our attention was arrested by a 
very curious novelty. From the continual wearing 
away of the bank, the roots of a large banyan tree 
were completely denuded to the very surface of the 
water. They were apparently sapless, and in many 
places the external coat had been removed by constant 
exposure to the elements and by the more destructive 
contact of human hands. We no longer wondered at 
the extraordinary fecundity of the superincumbent 
vegetation, when we perceived how Nature had pro- 
vided for its support, and through how many different 
avenues it received its nourishment. The roots were 
twisted into the most fantastic figures, and were so 
tough and hardy, that they appeared to have suffered 
little positive injury from the various contingencies to 
which they had been exposed. The tree was vigor- 
ous, and new supports were dropping from the older 
branches, so that its growth was evidently not im- 
paired. Our budgerow was dragged round the little 
cape which the stately banyan here formed on the 
bank, and the different twistings of the roots made so 
many resting places on which our dandies supported 
themselves while they pulled the boat against the 
current. 
