THE BANYAN TREE. 
185 
times congregated in great numbers beneath its 
branches. It appeared to be in the full vigour of 
its maturity, as not a single portion of it had begun 
to decay. 
As the banyan tree has always been an object of 
great interest to travellers, I shall make no apology for 
introducing a short account of it here. The boughs 
grow horizontally from the stem, and extend so far, 
that in the ordinary process of nature they would be 
unable to support themselves. To supply this sup- 
port, small fibrous shoots fall perpendicularly from 
them, and take root as soon as they reach the ground, 
thus propping the parent bough, while the lateral 
branches continue to throw out new sprouts, from 
which other fibres drop, until, in the course of years, 
one tree forms a little forest. The perpendicular 
stems put forth no shoots, and vary in circumference 
from a few inches to eight or ten feet. Before they 
reach the ground they are very flexible, and seem to 
dangle from the parent boughs like short thick thongs. 
The leaves of the banyan tree are of an elliptical 
shape, smooth, crisp, and glossy. They are about the 
size of a lettuce-leaf, and grow in regular alternations 
on each side of the branch. The fruit, which adheres 
to the smaller twigs, has no stem ; it is about the 
size of a hazel-nut and its colour a deep bright red. 
It is eaten by monkeys, paroquets and other birds, but 
is insipid, and therefore seldom made use of by 
natives, and never by Europeans, as an article of food. 
The seeds are said to pass through birds uninjured ; on 
the contrary, their germinating properties are im- 
proved by the process. They are thus deposited in 
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