[Illustration: A Banyan tree, with multiple stems, forms a small grove;
in the background are elaborate pagodas.]
The banian-tree (_Ficus Indica_) is one of the many species of the
fig-tree, and deserves notice, not only as a fruit-tree, but from its
being a sacred tree with the Hindoos in the East Indies, from the vast
size that it attains, and from the singularity of its growth. The fruit
does not exceed that of a hazel-nut in bigness; but the lateral branches
send down shoots that take root, till, in course of time, a single tree
extends itself to a considerable grove. This remarkable tree was known
to the ancients. Strabo mentions, that after the branches have extended
about twelve feet horizontally, they shoot down in the direction of the
earth, and there root themselves; and when they have attained maturity,
they propagate onward in the same manner, till the whole becomes like a
tent supported by many columns. This tree is also noticed by Pliny with
a minute accuracy, which has been confirmed by the observations of
modern travellers; and Milton has rendered the description of the
ancient naturalist almost literally, in the following beautiful
passage:--
“Branching so broad along, that in the ground
The bending twigs take root; and daughters grow
About the mother tree; a pillared shade,
High over-arched, with echoing walks between.
There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat,
Shelters in cool; and tends his pasturing herds
At loop-holes cut through thickest shade.”
Some specimens of the Indian fig-tree are mentioned as being of immense
magnitude. One near Mangee, twenty miles to the westward of Patna, in
Bengal, spread over a diameter of 370 feet. The entire circumference of
the shadow at noon was 1116 feet, and it required 920 feet to surround
the fifty or sixty stems by which the tree was supported. Another
covered an area of 1700 square yards; and many of almost equal
dimensions are found in different parts of India and Cochin China, where
the tree grows in the greatest perfection. A particular account of the
banian-tree (sometimes called the pagod-tree) is given in Cordiner’s
‘Ceylon.’ Mr. Southey has also described it both in the spirit of a poet
and a naturalist. The cut given above, which is copied from Mr.
Daniell’s splendid work on ‘Oriental Scenery,’ well illustrates this
description:--
“’Twas a fair scene wherein they stood,
A green and sunny glade amid the wood,
And in the midst an aged Banian grew.
It was a goodly sight to see
That venerable tree,
For o’er the lawn, irregularly spread,
Fifty straight columns propt 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 crost 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, unmov’d, were hung
Like stone-drops from the cavern’s fretted height.
Beneath was smooth and fair to sight,
Nor weeds nor briers deform’d the natural floor;
And through the leafy cope which towered it o’er
Came gleams of chequer’d light.
So like a temple did it seem, that there
A pious heart’s first impulse would be prayer[1].”
-----
Footnote 1:
Curse of Kehama.
---------------------
_Portuguese Robinson Crusoe, Diego Alvarez._--He was wrecked upon the
shoals on the north of the bar of Bahia. Part of the crew were lost;
others escaped this death to suffer one more dreadful; the natives
seized and eat them. Diego saw there was no other possible chance of
saving his life, than by making himself as useful as possible to these
cannibals. He therefore exerted himself in recovering things from the
wreck, and by these exertions succeeded in conciliating their favour.
Among other things he was fortunate enough to get on shore some barrels
of powder, and a musket, which he put in order at his first leisure,
after his masters were returned to their village; and one day, when the
opportunity was favourable, brought down a bird before them. The women
and children shouted Caramuru! Caramuru! which signified “a man of
fire!” and they cried out that he would destroy them: but he gave to
understand to the men, whose astonishment had less of fear mingled with
it, that he would go with them to war, and kill their enemies. Caramuru
was the name which from thenceforward he was known by. They marched
against the Tapuyas; the fame of this dreadful engine went before them,
and the Tapuyas fled. From a slave Caramuru became a sovereign. The
chiefs of the savages thought themselves happy if he would accept their
daughters to be his wives; he fixed his abode upon the spot where Villa
Velha was afterwards erected, and soon saw as numerous a progeny as an
old patriarch’s rising round him. The best families in Bahia trace their
origin to him.--_Southey’s History of Brazil._
---------------------
It is evident that nature has made man susceptible of experience, and
consequently more and more perfectible; it is absurd then to wish to
arrest him in his course, in spite of the eternal law which impels him
forward.--_Du Marsais._
------------------------------------------------------------------------
⁂ The Office of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge is at
59, Lincoln’s Inn Fields.