Univ.^f ill. Library 51 33^0$/ v/ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/wondersofvegetabOOadam THE TRAVELLER’S TREE I J". N BISON f EO!NB one species, but are common to^mosKof the ranger forest trees. Their nature and manner] of growth are explained when a series of young trees of different ages is examined. It is then Veen that they are the roots, which have raised them^ehj^ ridge-like out of the earth; growing gradually upwards as the increasing height of the tree required augmented support. Thus they are plainly intended to sustain the massive crown and trunk in these crowded forests, where lateral growth of the roots in the earth is rendered difficult by the number of competitors.” Among other remarkable inhabitants of the Brazi- lian wilderness, we may name the lofty Moira-tingu,* the Samaiima,t and the Massaranduba or cow tree.J The Eriodendron Samauma, or silk-cotton tree, holds in the New World the same position as the Bombax in the Old. It rises to an enormous stature without branches, and then spreads out a glorious mass of foliage. The bark is light in colour; and the capsule-pod contains a large quantity of down, of a brown tint, and exquisite silky softness. The Massaranduba is also called the Palo de Vacca, the Arbor de Lacte, the Galactodendron utile, or the Cow tree. Its bark furnishes an abundant supply of milk as pleasant to drink as that of the cow. If exposed to the air it thickens into a glue, which is excessively tenacious, and often employed to cement broken crockery. The tree has a wild strange ap- * Order Leguminosse, tribe Mimosae. t Order Sterculiaceae. ♦ Order Urticaceea 16 A BRAZILIAN FOREST. pearance, owing to its deeply-scored, reddisli, and rugged bark, a decoction of which is used as a red dye for cloth. Did our readers ever hear of the Pashiuba, or bulging-stemmed palm ? * It is not one of the tallest kinds, for its height, when full grown, seldom exceeds forty feet ; the leaves are somewhat less drooping, and the leaflets broader, than in other species; but if less beautiful, it is, perhaps, far more remarkable. Its roots grow above ground, radiating from the trunk at an elevation of ten or twelve feet, so that the tree seems to be supported on stilts; and when it is old, a person can stand upright amongst the roots with the perpendicular stem wholly above his head ! About midway, this stem bulges out in a circular swelling, which gives it its distinctive name. The roots closely resemble straight rods, but they are studded with stout thorns, whilst the trunk of the Pashiuba is perfectly smooth. Such are some of the marvels of a Brazilian forest — perceptible to the traveller even at a cursory glance. There are others, however, which must be noticed more in detail, and the entire vegetable world is full of “ curious things,” that command our admiration and excite our wonder. To these will the succeeding pages be devoted. * Iriartea Ventricosa. II. Cjie aim ®rik* “ Those groups of lovely date trees bending Languidly their leaf-crowned heads, Like youthful maids, when sleep descending Warns them to their silken beds.” Moore. the great botanist, has not inaptly [ the tall and crested Palm trees princes of the vegetable world,” and wherever they bloom they enrich the landscape by their grace and majesty. The most perfect of the tribe have a tall cylindrical stem, which shoots up- ward from the earth, without knot or blemish, like an Ionic column; springing to an immense height, and yet so symmetrical that its slenderness conveys no idea of feebleness. The summit hears a crown of emerald green plumes, like a diadem of gigantic ostrich-feathers; these are frequently twenty feet long, droop slightly at the ends, and rustle musically in the breeze. In the arid desert it forms an object of peculiar beauty, as it soars, erect and graceful, near some welcome spring of living waters, a land- mark to the wayworn traveller; but to see it in all its glory you must visit the palm-groves of Tropical America, or Polynesia, and wander enchanted in * Order Palmacere. 9 18 THE PALM TRIBE. their grateful shades. Under the natural screen which the thick green feathery branches supply, the orange and the lemon, the pomegranate, the olive, the almond, and the vine, flourish in wild luxuriance, and pour forth an abundance of luscious fruit. And here, while the eye is never weary of gazing on the glorious blossoms which brighten and adorn the scene, the ear is also ravished with the sweet clear melody of numerous birds, attracted to the palm- grove by its cool shadows, its fruits, and crystal springs. The valley of the Amazons rejoices in an infinite variety of these beautiful trees. Among them, a foremost place must be given to the Fan-leaved,* which abound in the islets and on the banks of the mighty river and its tributaries. Their stems are huge smooth cylinders, three feet in diameter, and about a hundred feet high. Their crowns consist of enormous clusters of fan-shaped leaves, whose stalks alone measure seven to ten feet in length. Nothing in the vegetable world, we are told, can be more imposing than this grove of palms. No underwood obstructs the view of the long per- spective of towering columns, which forces on the spectator's mind the remembrance of the long-drawn aisles of Gothic cathedrals. The crowns, densely packed together at an immense height overhead, shut out the rays of the sun; and the gloomy soli- tude beneath, where every sound has a strange re- verberation, can be compared to nothing so well as a solemn temple. In such a scene it is meet that * Mauritia flexuosa. THE PALM TRIBE. 19 the soul, “ on Devotion’s wing/’ should mount to God ! Humboldt has christened the Mauritia flexuosa the “ Tree of Life.” It is the chief, almost the only nourishment, he says, of the unconquered nation of the Guaranis, at the mouth of the Orinoco, who skilfully stretclptheir mats — woven from the nerves of the leaves-f-frojtKone trunk to another, and during the rainy season, when the Delta is inundated, live like apes on the tops of the-trees. These habitations are partially roofed with mud; the women light their ho^Seliold fires on a flooring of the same material; and the traveller, ascending the river at night, gazes astonished on the hundred spiral shafts of flame and smoke which seem kindled in the very air ! But not only with a habitation does the Mauritia supply these savages; it also feeds them. Before the flowers are developed, the trunk affords them a farinaceous pith, like sago; the sap provides wine and “the joys of Bacchus;” the fresh fruits, covered with scales like fir-cones, yield them nourishment, whether they eat them after the full development of their saccharine principle, or when they simply con- tain an abundant pulp. The fruit was first brought to England by Sir Walter Baleigh. The tree does not attain maturity in less than 120 or 150 years. The Assai palm * deserves mention on account or its edible properties. The fruit, which is perfectly round, and about as large as a cherry, contains but a Euterpe oloraeea. 20 THE PALM TRIBE. small quantity of pulp, lying between tbe hard kernel and the skin. With the addition of water, the pulp forms a thick, violet-coloured beverage, which stains the lips like blackberries, and is universally drank by the Indians of the Tocantins. The tree itself rises, without knot or blemish, to a great height. The outer part of the stem is as hard and as tough as horn; split into narrow planks it is used for the walls and flooring of the Indian huts. A noble palm grows in the neighbourhood of Santarem, which the natives call Bacaba .* It grows to a height of forty to fifty feet. The crown is of a shining glossy emerald-green, and of a singu- larly flattened or compressed shape ; the leaves being arranged on each side in nearly the same plane. The fruit ripens towards the end of the winter, and the natives manufacture from it an agreeable liquor, by rubbing off the pulpy coat of the nuts and mixing it with water. The beverage resembles milk, and possesses a piquant nutty flavour. As the Bacaba, on account of its smooth stem, is very difficult to climb, the natives', whenever they want to quench their thirst with its fruit, cut down, and thus destroy — with the wasteful thoughtlessness of all savages — a tree which has taken a score or two of years to grow. The Urucuri f is another Brazilian or Amazonian palm, and one of singular beauty. It flourishes in immense groves under the crowns of the loftier forest trees; the smooth pillar-like stems being nearly all of equal elevation, forty to fifty feet; and the * (Enocarpus distichus. t Attalea excelsa. THE PALM TRIBE. 21 broad, finely-pinnated leaves interwoven above in a natural dome-like vault of ever-fresh greenery. The fruit, which in size and shape resembles the date, is never eaten by the Indians. It is palatable, but not wholesome. But still more celebrated in Tropical America is the wide-spread Peach palm, * called by the Tupe Indians the Pupunha. The English name would seem to allude to the colour of its fruit rather than to its flavour, which travellers contemn as u dry and mealy,” or like a “ mixture of chestnuts and cheese.” Vultures devour it eagerly, and hover about the tree, when it is ripe, in noisy and quarrelsome flocks. The Pupunha is a noble ornament to the landscape, being, when mature, from fifty to sixty feet in height, and frequently as straight as a scaffold-pole. A bunch of ripe fruit is a sufficient load for a strong man, and each tree bears several of them. The nut, in good condition, is as large as a full-sized peach, and, if boiled, will bear comparison with an Irish- man’s delicacy — a mealy potato. In the neighbour- hood of Egra, where the Pupunha is carefully culti- vated, it is thus prepared for table, and eaten with treacle or salt. A dozen of the seedless fruits make, it is said, a good meal for a grown-up person. It is astonishing to what a variety of uses the Amazonian Indians apply the palm. It provides them with house, food, drink, raiment, salt, imple- ments, weapons, fishing tackle, and even musical in- struments. The rafters of their huts are formed, perhaps, of the straight and uniform palm called Leo- * Gulielma speciosa. oo THE PALM TRIBE. poldina pulchra ; tlie Carand is brought into requisi- tion for the roof; and the split stems of the Iriartea exporiza furnish the doors and frame-work. The wide bark which grows beneath the fruit of another species is woven into an apron. The comb with which many of the males adorn their heads is made from palm wood, and their fish-hooks from its spine. Caps for the head, and cloth for the loins, are manufactured from the fibrous spathes of the Manicaria saccifera. These, too, supply the native with his hammock and bow-strings. Various species of palms yield oil and edible fruit; from eight kinds an intoxicating liquor can be distilled; and from the Java assu , by burning its small nuts, he procures a substitute for salt. From the spinous processes of the Patawa he makes his arrows, and arms himself with lances and harpoons from the Triatea ventricosa. The long blow-pipe through which he hurls the envenomed dart at birds and animals comes from the Setigera palm; from the stems of various trees he fashions the harsh, bassoon-like, musical instrument employed in his u devil- worship; ” and, finally, the great woody spathes of the Maximiliana regia provide him with cooking- vessels. In Ceylon and Malabar one of the principal palms is the remarkable Talipot , Talipat , or Umbrella-bear- ing palm, * which frequently attains the extraordinary olevation of 100 feet; is straight as a giant’s spear; five feet in circumference at the base, and tapering towards the summit, where it terminates in a magni- ficent crown of enormous palmate plaited leaves * Coryplia umbraculifera. It is also called the Great Fan Palin. THE PALM TPJBE. 23 Each leaf, near the outer margin, is divided into numerous segments, and united to the trunk by spiny leaf -stalks. It usually measures about eighteen feet in length, exclusive of the leaf-stalk, and about fourteen feet in breadth; so that a single leaf will form an excellent canopy for a score of men. It is consequently employed for many important purposes, such as roofing houses or making tents. The Sin- galese noble, on state occasions, is always followed by an attendant bearing above his head a richly ornamented Talipat leaf, which can be folded up, like a fan, into a roll of ‘the thickness of a man’s arm, and is wonderfully light. In Malabar, the leaves are used as a substitute for paper, the charac- ters being inscribed with an iron stylus, but they undergo a preliminary process of boiling, drying, damping, rubbing, and pressing. The oil employed in colouring the writing preserves them from insects, but changes with age, so that a Singalese determines the date of a book by carefully smelling at it ! Above its crown of leaves the Talipat, at the age of thirty or forty years, raises an erect pyramid ot flowers, of a bright creamy hue, but disagreeable odour. At first they are enclosed in a hard sheath, from which, when matured, they extrude themselves with a loud noise. To this peculiarity Moore alludes in the following lines : — “ Hearts where, slow but deep, the seeds Of vengeance ripen into deeds, Till, in some treacherous hour of calm, They burst, like Zeilan’s giant-palm. Whose buds fly open with a sound That shakes the pigmy forest round !” 24 THE PALM TPIBE. The fruit is abundant, globose, and about an inch and a half in diameter. As soon as it has ripened the tree decays, and in two or three weeks lies rotten on the ground. Vegetable ivory, now manufactured into many ornamented articles, is the hardened albumen of the Corosso,* first made known in England by Sir William Hooker. It is clear and liquid at first, then milky and sweet, and finally solid. The stem of the tree which produces the Corosso nuts is so dwarfed that they lie in clusters upon the ground, while its enormous tufts of pinnated leaves attain the height of twenty feet. The Corosso is a native of the sheltered and romantic valleys which nestle among the Peruvian Andes. Wax is obtained from several species of the Palmacese, as from the Geroxylon , or Wax palm, dis- covered by Humboldt in South America, which grows to a height of 180 feet, and the Camanba , f whose fan-like leaves are coated, with a yellow wax. From the Calamus verus we obtain the well- known canes called ratans ; and the Sago palm , J which flourishes in the swampy districts of the East, supplies us with a farinaceous food of great value. The Goryplia Australia , a native of Vic- toria in Australia, yields a profusion of fan-shaped leaves, which are employed in the manufacture of straw hats. This noble tree attains the stature of 140 feet. The Palm oil largely used in the manufacture of soap and candles, and in the preparation of the * Phytolephas macrocarpa. t Corypha cerifera. t Sagus farinifera. THE AUSTRALIAN PALM. THE PALM T-RIBE. peculiar compound with which the wheels of railway - carriages are greased, is expressed from the nuts of the Elais palm, a native of Guinea. The palm-tree worms, the larvse of a kind of beetle, eaten in Surinam as a delicacy, flourish on the Areca oleracea. The Areca, or Catechu palm, yields the celebrated Betel nuts, so largely masticated by the Hindus. From these nuts our chemists obtain an astringent decoction, useful in dyspepsia, and many other diseases. What would become of the wanderer in the deserts of Arabia and Barbary, if Providence suddenly de- creed the extinction of the Date palm?* Thou- sands of human beings would inevitably perish, for the inhabitants of Fezzan live wholly upon its saccharine and delicious fruit for nine months of the year. In Egypt, Arabia, and Persia, it forms the principal food of the people, and a man's wealth is computed by the number of date palms he possesses. When dried, the fruit becomes an important com- mercial staple. Cakes of dates pounded and kneaded, until solid enough to be cut with a hatchet, supply the provision of the African caravans on their toil- some journey through the sun-lighted Sahara. The young leaves, or palm cabbage, are eaten by the Persians and Arabs, who also distil a species of wine frjm the sap, by fermentation. A single palm will yield three or four quarts daily for a fortnight, after which the quantity diminishes, and the tree gradually dries up. The date stones or seeds are roasted as a substitute for coffee, or ground for the sake of their Phoenix dactylifera. 28 THE PALM TRIBE. oil, and the residuum given as food to cattle. Bags and mats are made out of the leaves; the fibres sup- ply a rude rough cordage ; and the leaf-stalks all kinds of basket and wicker work. The Date palm is the palm tree alluded to in Scripture, and in the oases of the Great Desert springs up, a fountain of life, for the refreshment of the traveller and the sustenance of the Arab nomade. It generally attains a height of fifty feet, is crowned with a crest of from forty to eighty glaucous pin- nated leaves, and flowers at the age of twelve years. In Egypt we meet w T ith the Doum palm, a tree of shorter stature, but remarkable for the repeated forkings of its stem. From the sweet and yet pun- gent flavour of its fruit, it has been popularly called the Gingerbread Tree; but to an European stomach the gingerbread would prove sadly difficult of diges- tion. The kernel resembles ivory, and the natives fashion it into beads and other small ornaments. Both the Date and the Doum palm are found in Egypt, but the former disappears as the traveller descends the Nile, and enters Nubia. Generally speaking, it may be said that the Doum is the Egyp- tian, as the Date is the Saharan palm tree. Its value is not so great as that of its famous congener, nor are its uses so various; but then the Egyptian is less dependent upon it than the Arab upon the Date. To the inhabitant of the Sahara the latter is food, comfort, wealth, nay, life. It is easy to understand, says a French writer, the gratitude cherished by the Arab towards this tree, which thrives in the sandy waste, draws sustenance from brackish water fatal to THE DOUM AND DATE PALMS. l THE PALM TRIBE. 31 almost every other plant, preserves its freshness when all around it decays and withers under the rays of an implacable sun, and resists the tempests which bow its flexible crest but cannot tear up its solidly- planted roots. It may be said, without exaggeration, that a single tree has peopled the Desert ; that, without it, the nomade tribes of Western Africa must cease to exist. What the Date palm is to the Arab, the Cocoa-nut palm * is to the Polynesian. Originally it would seem to have been a native only of the Indian coasts and South Sea Islands, but it is now diffused over all the tropical world. There are about eighteen known species, of which only one, the cocoa-nut itself, does not belong to America, but flourishes best in the neighbourhood of the sea-coast. It is the crown and glory of the coral islets which stud the sapphire expanse of the Pacific Ocean; its cylindrical and slender stem, about two feet in diameter, and from 60 to 100 feet in height, with its crest of green, drooping, pinnated leaves, generally sixteen to twenty in number, and from twelve to twenty feet in length, forming a conspicuous ornament of the tropical landscape — of “ The studded archipelago, O'er whose blue bosom rise the starry isles : ” and justly entitling it to the poet's praise, as “ The loftiest Dryad of the woods, Within whose bosom infant Bacchus broods.” The uses of this tree are manifold, and its valuable * Cocos nneifera. 32 THE PALM TftIBE. properties claim man's gratitude. Its hard, agate- like, polished timber, known as Palmyra and Porcu- pine wood, is prized by the cabinet-maker; the hard nut which encloses its fruit the savage carves into handsome howls and goblets ; the milky liquid within has a sweet and delicious flavour, and is very wholesome, refreshing, and digestible; the fibrous husk can be woven into sails and cordage, or used for stuffing mats and cushions; the terminal bud, or Palm cabbage, is delicate eating; the central part of the stem, when young, affords a sweet and ex- cellent food; the fermented sap yields the spirituous liquor so well known as arrack; the dried leaves can be employed for thatch ; and every boy knows that the nut itself is a popular and justly-prized dainty. Commercially speaking, the most valuable product of this all-important tree is the oil or butter obtained from its kernel, and largely used in Europe in the manufacture of stearine candles. In the East it is employed as an unguent, and for illuminating pur- poses. It is obtained by pressure of the kernel, or by boiling it over a slow fire. Seven or eight nuts will supply one quart. It is liquid in tropical climates, but in colder temperatures solidifies into a white, butter-like oil. Compression separates it into a more liquid part called olein , and a more solid part known as cocosin , or cocostearin . The Cocoa palm ripens in about seven years, and continues productive for seventy or eighty, each tree bearing annually from eighty to one hundred nuts. THE PALM TRIBE. 33 The Double cocoa-nut (Cocos de Mer) of the Seychelles Islands, which, in the early days of rq&ritime enterprise, was regarded as a marvel, and /^righaated a score of iablete, is the fruit of a palm of a whftjy different gentfs. ^ It was originally found \ floating on the w^v^crf the Indian Ocean, and as its nktlr-place could ^not at first be discovered, became enveloped in an atmosphere of mystery. As a sup- posed talisman against poison and infectious diseases, it was eagerly sought after; and a good nut would fetch the enormous sum of £150. It was said that only one tree in the world produced this rare and wondrous fruit — “ Solomon’s Nut ” was the popular appellation — and that its roots were fixed deep in the ocean-bed, while a griffin kept watch and ward over the treasure, as the Dragon over the Hesperidan apples. But in 1768 it w r as discovered by two French officers, Captain Duchenin and M. Bane, growing plentifully in the Seychelles Islands ; and was ascertained to be the fruit of a palm, with a straight slender stem, 100 feet high, which requires upwards of a century and a quarter to reach matu- rity. The whole tree possesses the useful properties of the family to which it belongs, and flourishes only on two islands in the Seychelles group, which are named Praslin and Curieuse. What rice is to the Hindu, what wheat is to the European, is the Banana f to the inhabitants of the tropical islands. They would perish without it ; or be reduced to feed, like the beasts, on the herbage of the fields. But the banana supplies them with a * Loidoicea Seychellarurn. t Order Musaceae. 3 34 THE PALM TRIBE. wholesome and abundant food, with a pleasant drink, with a valuable medicine, with materials for clothinsr: in a word, with almost all. the necessaries of their simple and easily contented life. It is now under- stood to be a variety of the plantain ; the one bearing the technical name of Musa sapientum , the other of, Musa paradisiaca — both appellations testifying to the esteem in which the plant is held. For Musa sapientum, “of the wise men,” alludes to a statement by Theophrastus that its fruit was the daily fare of the wise men of India ; and Musa para- disiaca, to a tradition that it was identical with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil which flour- ished in the garden-groves of Eden. “ A goodly tree. Laden with fruit of fairest colours mixed, Ruddy and gold.” The name of Musa is derived, we are told, from the Arabic word moz , a plantain ; and the genus comes from the Cape of Good Hope and the islands of the great Eastern Archipelago, where it fattens and flourishes beneath an unclouded sun. Its present range is almost universal, and it will even thrive in regions where the thermometer descends to 45°. It grows most freely in humid localities, and in spots sheltered from the wind ; for its large floating leaves, 6 feet long and 2 feet broad, of the brightest green, are so delicately woven, that the lightest gust of air will rend them into fragments. These leaves yield a remarkably fine flax, which is manufactured into fleecy muslins. The process is thus THE PALM TitIBE. 35 The fibres of the petioles * are easily pulled out, and separated with a knife ; they are washed in three or four waters, and bleached and dried on linen ex~ THE BANANA PALM. posed to the sun ; they are then stretched in every direction. After this, they are macerated for an * The petiole is the stalk of the leaf. 36 THE PALM TRIBE. hour in lime-juice, which renders them perfectly white, and fit for spinning ; or, if left in a flocky state, they are made into tinder or wadding. From the stem of the banana a peculiar juice is distilled, which acts as an admirable remedy in cases of diarrhoea. The fruit of the banana, or Musa sapientum, is shorter and rounder than that of the Musa para- disiaca, or plantain. When ripe, it glows like gold externally, and within mellows into a soft creamy hue. Stewed in claret, or fried in butter, it makes a dainty dish to “ set before a king/’ Dried in the sun, or in an oven, and pounded, it can be manufac- tured into a nourishing kind of bread ; as a whitish and fragrant meal, it will keep for a long time, and is not inferior to porridge. In Guiana it is called Conquin-tay . There is more succulence in the plantain than in the banana. It is a native of East India, but must have been imported into America soon after its dis- covery by Columbus, since its fruit formed a staple article of food early in the sixteenth century ; and now its varieties are scattered over the whole of that great continent. The stem of the plantain is usually fifteen or twenty feet high. The leaves are very large, frequently ten feet long and three broad ; so that one leaf makes a very sufficient shelter from the sun. It is propagated by suckers ; and a sucker attains maturity about a year after it is planted. After fruiting, the stem is cut down ; but the plantain does not need renewing for nearly twenty years. THE PALM TRIBE. 87 Numerous are the uses of this important esculent. We have spoken of its fruit as an article of food : a decoction of it yields a pleasant beverage ; the top of the stalk, boiled, is an excellent vegetable ; the leaves are employed for packing, and for thatch ; and the fibre for textile purposes, and cordage. Its importance as a staple of nutriment may be inferred from Humboldt's calculation that the food- produce, compared with that of the potato, is as 44 to 1, and with that of wheat, as 133 to 1. A square space of one thousand feet will grow forty or fifty plants ; and one acre of ground will yield sufficient support for fifty men. Take a patch of land. Cul- tivate it with wheat, and it shall nourish its tiller ; plant it with bananas, and it shall maintain half a company of soldiers ! Some wild species of the plantain flourish in many parts of the East. One kind, Musa Troglodytarum — common enough in the fair islands of Polynesia — bears its clusters erect and aloft, like a chieftain's plume of feathers, and not pendent, like all other varieties. In the golden Philippines there lives a species of Musa bearing a green unsavoury fruit, whose stem supplies the well-known Abaca or Manilla hemp. The gorgeous Strelitzias, which are now found in many English hot-houses, having been imported from the Cape of Good Hope, belong to the order Musa - cece. Their flower-stalks spring, like lances, from the centre of numerous leaves, borne upon long petioles, which are ensheathing at the base. Their flowers are orange and dark blue. The Heliconia, i 38 THE PALM TRIBE. which possesses an edible root, and the Urania,* a plant of more than ordinary beauty, are also mem- bers of the banana tribe. The leaves of the latter have been compared to broad sword-blades ; they are eight feet long, a foot broad, and rise straight up- wards, alternately, from the top of a stem five or six feet high. * Urania Amazonica or Wild Banana. III. HE poet Southey, in a well-known passage of the “ Curse of Kehama,” describes this wonderful tree with as much felicity as truth. The quotation is somewhat hackneyed, yet may be new to our younger readers. The scene is “ a green and sunny glade ” in a tropical forest, — “And in the midst an aged banyan grew. It was a goodly sight to see That venerable tree ; For o’er the lawn, irregularly spread, Fifty straight columns propped its lofty head; And many a long depending shoot, Seeking to strike its root, Straight, like a plummet, grew towards the ground. Some on the lower boughs, which crossed their way, Fixing their bearded fibres, round and round, With many a ring and wild contortion wound; Some to the passing wind, at times with sway Of gentle motion swung; Others of younger growth, unmoved, were hung Like stone-drops from the cavern’s fretted height. Beneath was smooth and fair to sight, Nor weeds nor briars deformed the natural floor; And through the leafy cope which bowered it o’er Came gleams of checkered light. So like a temple did it seem, that there A pious heart’s first impulse would be prayer !” The Banyan, or Pagod tree, is a native of sunny Hindustan and Cochin-China, and frequently attains * Ficus Indica: order Urticaceaa. I 40 THE BANYAN TREE. an almost incredible size. I have read of one which had no fewer than 350 stems, each stem equal in girth to a large oak, besides 3000 smaller ones ; the whole forming a canopy of foliage overspreading an THE BANYAN TREE. area of 1700 square yards, and covering a space capable of containing 7000 persons. That is to say, this one tree extended over as much ground as the transept of the Crystal Palace, or St. Paul's Cathed- ral. Its leaves are shaped like a heart, about five or THE BANYAN TREE. 41 six inches long ; and its fruit resembles, in shape, size, and colour, a rich scarlet cherry, growing in pairs from the axils of the leaves. The branches frequently extend over two acres horizontally, straight out from the trunk, and send forth long straight shoots or arms, which root themselves in the ground, and form props — like smooth pillars, covered with silvery bark — for the boughs, and simultaneously supply them with additional moisture from the earth. The main trunk will measure about 28 feet in girth, and 60 to 80 in height. The props or stems frequently possess a circumference of 10 to 14 feet. In the branches the Bonzes, or Hindu hermits, plant their huts ; and in their pleasant shadow the traveller protects himself from the ardour of a tropic sun.* In Moore's “ Lalla Rookh,” the procession of the princess is represented as encamping under a banyan — under one of those holy trees, says the poet, whose smooth columns and spreading roofs seem to destine them for natural temples of religion. The Hindus convert them into temples, placing their idols under its shade ; wherefore they call it the pagod tree. In some places, says Pennant, it is believed to be the haunt of spectres, as the ancient spreading oaks of Wales have been of fairies ; in others are erected, beneath the shade, pillars of stone, or posts, elegantly carved, and ornamented with the most beautiful porcelain, to supply the place of mirrors. * So Milton : — “ The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow About the mother-tree, a pillared shade.” 42 THE BANYAN TREE. As for the fruit, only birds and monkeys eat it ; but its milky juice supplies a kind of caoutchouc, and the wood of the larger stems is useful from its toughness and lightness. Allied to the banyan is the Pippul tree , * a native of Ceylon and the Indian mainland, where it receives a considerable amount of veneration — Vishnu being supposed to have sprung into life under the pippul, and Buddha to have enjoyed its shade. The leaves are heart-shaped ; 8 inches long, and 6 broad, at the broadest part. Unlike the banyan, its branches do not send forth any roots ; but it yields a caoutchouc juice. Most of the Indian caoutchouc, however, is obtained from the various species of Ficus, or fig tree — such as the Ficus elastica and Ficus toxicaria ; but it is far inferior for commercial purposes to that of the Siphonia elastica , an Ameri- can tree of which we shall hereafter have occasion to speak. Ficus religiosa; order Urticaceae. IV. C[i£ Utanrirobc Cr. «.* HE Mangrove is a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Rhizophoraceae. All its individuals are tropical, and all natives of the coast, especially of estuaries and the mouths of great rivers, where they flourish in the mud — extending their closely intertwined roots even down to low-water mark, and often presenting to the voyager an impassable barrier. Most of the species possess the peculiar property of sending down roots from their branches; and thus they spread with great rapidity over an immense area, forming thick mangrove forests, the resort of myriads of aquatic birds, of innumerable legions of crabs, and of hosts of shell-fish, which adhere to their branches. The leaves are of a dark glossy green, which contrasts pleasantly with the long narrow scarlet pods. The wood is hard and durable. From the roots, when left bare by the receding tide, a sickly odour arises; and the vicinity of a mangrove forest is always cursed by the deadly malaria. It is partly to this circum- stance must be attributed the unhealthy character of the estuaries of the African rivers. * Order Rhizophoraeeae. 44 THE MANG110VE TREE. The seeds germinate while still attached to the parent branch. The pod opens at the bottom ; the young plant, with its long thick radicle, extends itself, and rapidly grows downwards ; until the fruit falls off, penetrates into the mudV nnd in due time rises into>4aJTv tree. / The whole number of /species knojvn is about twenty. The fruit of the c