REMARKABLE TREE. 35 
they appear like a single line, or rope, reaching 
from the highest branches nearly to the ground, 
where they terminate in a bunch of spreading 
fibres, not unlike a tassel. At other times, while 
there is one principal fibre, a number of ‘others 
branch off from this at unequal distances, from 
its insertion in the bough above, and terminate in 
a cluster of small fibres. The different threads 
are sometimes separate from each other for a 
considerable distance, and, near the bottom, unite 
in one single root. 
As soon as these depending fibres reach the 
ground, they take root, and, in the course of a 
number of years, become solid stems, covered with 
a bark resembling that of the original tree, and 
forming so many natural pillars to the progressively 
extending branches above. 
By this singular process, the aoa, at Tamapua, 
appears more like a clump or grove than a single 
tree. The original stem was joined by one or two, 
of such dimensions, that it was not easy to dis- 
tinguish the parent from the offspring; and the 
fibres that had united with the ground, and thus 
became so many trunks or stems of the tree, 
covered a space many yards in circumference. 
The lateral branches continue to extend, and 
tendrils of every length and size are seen in all 
directions depending from them, appearing as if 
in time it would cover the face of the country with 
a forest, which yet should be but a single tree. 
The most remarkable appearance, however, 
which the aoa presents, is when it grows near 
some of the high mountain precipices that often 
occur in the islands. A short distance from 
Buaoa, where the rocks are exceedingly steep, and 
almost perpendicular for a hundred feet or more; 
LD 2 
