same place and calls it jQ Tao-shu (the 
tree of intelligence) a literal translation of 
the Sanscrit name “ Bodhidruma.” Cf. Stan. 
Julien, Momoires s. 1. contr. oceid. IL 376. 
The same tree, in the shade of which jBnddlia 
is said to have spent 7 years of penance, exists 
still, a splendid Sacred Fig tree; 2 miles S. 
E. of Gaya in Bahar. 
Fa-sien (1. c.p. 29) states further about the 
Pei-to-shu: The ancient Kings of the ,^jjj 
p|j Slii-tsu-kuo (lion’s kingdom, a literal 
translation of Singliala, the ancient name of 
Ceylon) sent a deputation to pjj^l jj<|| Chuug- 
kuo (Middle kingdom *) for seeds f of the 
Pei-to-shu (J|f /)b| The Pei- 
to-shu were planted near the temple of 
Buddha. As the (principal) tree attained a 
height of 200 feet it inclined to the South- 
East. The King, being anxious that it 
should not fall down ordered it to be 
supported by 8 or 9 pillars. The tree 
shot forth then a branch, which after hav- 
ing grown through one of the pillars, de- 
scended and took root in the ground. Fa- 
sien says, that the tree was 4 |j|r| Wei J in 
circumference at the time he saw it. The 
pillars, although curved and cracked also still 
existed. There seems to be no manner of 
doubt, that Fa-sien speaks not of a palm 
tree, but of Ficus religiosa, — although the 
statement, that a branch of the tree de- 
scended and took root in the ground, points 
more to the Banyan tree, Ficus indica. 
* By Middle kingdom Fa-sien understood not China, 
"but, as he explains himself (1. o. p. n) India. He calls 
China always b y the name of its celebrated dynasties 
l,: |l San and Tsin. 
t Beal, Travels of Fa-sien p. 152 translated “ a slip 
of the Pei-to-shu.” 
t As the character Wei occurs very often in Chinese 
descriptions of trees and some of our sinologues 
wrongly understand this word, I will give a short 
explanation of it. Landresse states in a note to Re- 
musai/s Fo-kuo-ki, p. 314, “4 Wei environ^ o,w.0612. 
Le-woi equivaut a la moitif? d'un T'sun, lequel est la 
dixifeme partie de la coudde ChinoHe, soit o,mO!OG.” 
Hence it would follow that the Splendid Pei-iO-siiu, 
several centuries old, which Fa-sien saw in Ceylon was 
of the size of a walking cane. I do not know from 
What sources Landr esse received this information, but 
I find in the Dictionary of Kang-si the following 
37 T 0 11 0 SB r u - 
ts'un-yiie-wei-Upao-yufrWei. Five Ts‘un (inches) or 
tenths of a cubit) are called Wei, and also one fathom. 
Morrison translates in his Dictionary the character 
Pao wrongly by bundle, but its meaning is “to em- 
brace” or the distance between the horizontally ex- 
tended arms of a man (a fathom). Such contradictory 
meanings of the same character occur very often in 
the Qpiuese language, which, notwitlistand.ng the 
high 1 position assigned to it by the eminent savant 
W. v. Humboldt ( Versohiedenheit des menschlichen 
.Sprachbaues), is one of the most imperfect and con- 
fused. — But the character Wei in Chinese botanical 
writings denotes always a fathom and not 5 inches. 
Tim tradition of Fa-sien, regarding tiie 
introduction of the Pei-to tree from India to 
Ceylon is met with also in the ancient annals 
of Ceylon (Cf. Sacred and historical books, 
of Ceylon by Upham, 1833, III. 219, a 
detailed account of the transportation of the 
branch of the Bogana tree at Anuradhepura.) 
There is described how a branch of the 
sacred Bo tree, beneath which Buddha 
entered “nirvana,” was brought with great 
ceremonies from Maghada, the fatherland 
of Buddha (Sakyamuni) to Singliala (Ceylon) 
and planted in the garden Mahmneunah near 
Anuradhepura (288 B. C.) Cf. also Chap- 
man’s remarks on the ancient city of Anaraja- 
pura in the Transaction i of the Royal Asiafc. 
Sue. Yol. III. p. III. The same tree is still 
at the present day an object of ven ration 
by Buddhists. Cf. Teunent’s Ceylon II. 613. 
Ficus religiosa , the Peepul tree, the Sacred 
Fig tree of the Buddhists, one of the giants 
of the vegetable kingdom, is considered 
throughout Ind a as a sacred tree. Burmann 
in his Thesaurus ceylanicus 1737 describes it 
as Arbor zeylanica religiosa foliis cordatf's, 
integerrimis acurnin .t : s, prepetus mobilibus 
Boghas, Buduglias ineolis dicitur. The 
trembling of the leaves of the tree, like the 
Aspen tree, is a characteristic of it, often 
mentioned and poetically interpreted in an- 
cient Buddhist works. Ficus religiosa is called 
Bodhi (meaning ^intelligence) by Northern 
Buddhists, or Chadala (the tree with tremu- 
lous leaves), in Hindustani = Pipala (Cf. 
Amarakocha 1. c. I. p. 84). In Chinese Buddh- 
ist works the name Bodhi is rendered by 
the characters bAp P i u-fi and Pipala by 
J|§. J§ Fi-po-lo. Cf. Kuang-kiin- 
fang-p'u. Chap. 81 p. 7. A fine drawing 
of it is found in the Ch. W. XXX VII. p. 27. 
Besides these names, Chinese Buddhists call 
the tree |i^j’ Ssu-wei-shu (tree of 
meditation.) As has been done also often 
by our botanists in former times, the Ficus 
religiosa is confounded by some Chinese 
authors with the Ficus indica or Banyan 
tree * for some authors state, that the roots 
of the P’u-td-shu grow from the branches. 
* Ficus indica, the Banyan tree, is another sacred 
tree of India, but more especially an object of venera- 
tion by the Brahmins. A striking characteristic of it 
and distinguishing it from Ficus religiosa is, besides 
the oval lanceolat leaves, that the branches send roots 
down to the ground, which form new trunks. In this 
way one tree forms a whole forest. The Banyan tree 
is found throughout India, in Ceylon, the Archipelago, 
to the West as far as Arabia. Loureiro mentions it in- 
Cochin China (Ficus indica, ramis latissime expansis 
radices crassas in terrain demlltenfcibus). Neuhoff 
('Gosahdtschaftsreise nac-h China. 1666), describes and 
represents the Banyan tree and states, that he saw it 
growing in -China. Ainslie (Materia vned. ind. lip. 
10-1 1)’ asserts, that the Banyan tree is called Yang-slin 
