Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-08-26
The GIANT eANyAA.

Dsscripsiea Of The Big Tree az Csscat$s's
Botaalcai Garden
But the great .ssiSht" OF Calcutta Ia
unQuestionably its splendid Botanical
garden, On tho further shore Of the
Hocghly, and the giant hanyan tree
which stands in the midst Of its palms
and banboos like king amid his cour-
tiers. 1t IS true that the FIVE mile DIVE
thither across the Canning bridge and
through the endless bazars of HCwrah
(the BROOKLYN of CAlcutta) Is anything
but an easy enterprise 10 achieve salts
factorly. II you start in the morning
the whole journey there and hack IS one
long martyrdom TO beat and dust and
glare which only those who have been
In India can fully appreciate. If you
start In the evening you arrive Just in
TIME TO see the whole garden vanish from
your eyes into the deepening darkness OF
night, and have to Console yourself per
force with the time hcnored joke, There
was nothing TO be seen, and / saw It
thoroughly" The latter result attended
the first effort which we ourselves made
to reach the renowned baayan. and trc
bazar happening TO be unusually full
that night, our homeward drive through
it In the dark, with an accompaniment
Of shouting and whip cracking worthy
of royal progress. wildly recalled
Sir George Trevelyan's famous definition
of hit as "a monosyllab used by
cabmen and omnibus drivers preparatory
to running over deaf people.
But such q spectacle As the monster
tree Of Calcutta Is well worth double
journey. and our second attempt was
more fortunate than our first. Starting
from our hotel at 4 p. uh.. We reached the
garden little before 5, and had already
driven more than half way across il when
our ''gharri'' (carriage) halted suddenly
at the entrance III long, straight
avenue fianked by two ranges Of lofty
trees, and our Bengal driver. pointing to
the far end Of it with his lean, brown
forefinSer, said impressively, ''Dekho,
burrah zach wahan hal" dock, there il
the big treel.
We followed the pointing finger with
our eyes, but saw nothing except a thick
grove of small trees. IN which the path
seemed to lose itself. and this was all va
could make out Till we got within about
100 yards of it, Then. TO our amaze
ment, we found that the supposed grove
was ELL one giant tree. and that its count
less trunks were nothing more than the
shoots which it had sent down into the
earth from each Of irs mighty brpugls, to
take root there and spring up again TIL
the whole plantation was covered. After
walking many yards beneath one huge
bough, and noting that tins giant was
only one among scorcs-soIne Of which,
although SO vast and ponderous as 10 need
supports of solid brickwork. seem mere
twigs compared with the enormos,s mass
of the parent stern-I began 10 have n
clearer idea of the real size of this vege-
table Goliath than | could over have
gained from the inscription attached 10
one Of its largest branches stating that
the girth of its trunk is AZ feet, that tho
circumference of It's crown Is $50, and
that il has sent down into the earth 253
aerial roots"
The same inscription tells you that the
tree is more than 100 years old. When
it was first planted Warren Hastings
was turning his face homeward IL figure
in the greatest political trial which Eng
land had seen since Cromwell and his
grim comrades SAT III Judgment upon
''the man Charles Stuart" Two-thirds
of India and the whole Of Burmah were
still independent Of the British crown.
Frederick the Great was still relgning in
Berlin The French revolution lay hid
In the unknown future, and the battle Of
American Independence. though nobly
fought, was not yet won. And it may
be that when not one stone Of Calcutta
shall remain upon another. and when
tigers shall prowl and vultures shrek
over the ruins OF the viesrUy's palace,
the giant tree will still upresr amid a vast
solitude those mighty boughs that once
shaded the bravcst men and fairest wo-
men Of India, a silent and solitary
mourner at the tomb Of that great en-
pire whose childhood was coeval with its
own.-David E.er III New Times.