, 1889-12-18
WONDERFUL TREES.
MYSTERIOUS ARE SOME OF NAT
uRE's WOODEN WORKS.

$4,000 Soldier Great Calamity
Which Overlook the Sacred DO of ceyIon.
Australia has a species Of baobab, or
monkey bread tree, but it is only in AZ
RIGA, along the Congo river, that the
baobab grows to perfection. Like the
cannlbal tree, the baobab grows all out
Of proportion. Its average height is
about forty feet, but like the Dutchman
Of Penzance it is ''as big north and
south as it is up and down." travellers
reporting specimens of the tree ninety
feet in circumference. Old baobabs,
with their swinging branches, resemble
a small forest more than they do a single
tree. Humboldt considered them 1.-THE
oldest living organic mountains on our
planet" setting down the ages of sew
eral of those examined by himself at not
less than 5000 years. A room large
enough to furnish comfortable accom-
modations for thirty men has been cut
out in the trunk of a baobab, which con-
tinued to live and flourish.
A tree of this species planted at Kew
Gardens in England about the beginning
Of the present century has beer the
whole Of the eighty odd years attaining
a height of less Than five feet, which
proves to the satisfaction Of n fair
minded nan that English soil is not
adapted to the extensive culture of mon
key bread. The fruit of the baobab tree,
the monkey bread itself, is about the
size and shape of a common Hubbard
squash, md is said to be ~farinaceous and
very nutritious. Taking its diameter
and circumference into consideration,
and saying nothing about the height,
the baobab may be set down as the larg-
est species of tree in the world.
Those of my readers who are ac-
quainted with Southey's works will re-
member his beautiful description of the
banyan tree in his poem, The Curse of
Kehama." For a great many years the
banyan tree was described by natural
lists as being a species of the baobab, but
is 10 regarded as a species wholly diff
~ferent, and AZ belonging to the palm
family. If it were not for the promise
made in h opening not to designate
any n OF the wonderful trees as the
most wonderful of all trees, the appella-
ton would certainly be applied to the
banyan, which is not n tree, but u whole
system of trees. 1t seems to be inclined
to grow downward instead of upward,
as the trees do with which we are ac-
quainted. 1t is said to seldom spring up
from the soil, but from the heads of
feather, brush, peacock-tail and other
species of palm, the seed having been de-
posted there by birds and taken root in
the damp, pulpy crown. so characteristic
OF trees of the palm family. The banyan,
as limited above, does not seem to want
to grow up, but down. AS soon as the
branches begin to put forth from the
crown of the palm in which their germ
has found lodging place, they
to hunt for the ground, each branch ak
ing o as soon as it touches the damp,
moist soil Qt being a native of India, a
fact which l have neglected to state).
AS these roofing branches begin to re-
ceive nourishment they grow with
amazing rapidity and send out dozens
and hundreds of other branches, which,
like the parent stem, take root and soon
form a wilderness; a single banyan tree
on the banks of the river Krishna being
provided with over 1000 stems, 800 of
them being as large as the common elms
OF the Mississippi valley. At one time
Kojan Dol sheltered $500 soldiers and
nearly 5000 horses under this tree, which
may be truly called ''the giant of the
forest"
The natives of almost all countries
have their sacred trees; the East Indian
has his banyan, the Congo African his
baobab, the South Australian his devil
tree, and the Ceylonese his DO tree. The
mystic rites performed under the SACRED
shadows of the DO, perhaps, exceed in
heathenish solemnity anything known to
thet tree worshipers of either of the other
countries named.
The oldest written description of the DO
tree of Ceylon known to exist is hat by
the Chinese historian and traveller, Fa
Han, who visited it in the year Ala A.
D.. According to the learned Chinaman
it was at that time ZOE years old, having
been planted by King Devinipiatissa in
the year 2S8, before our era.
In October, 1887, after having been
daily, n might say, almost hourly,
worshiped for 2,175 years, the sacred
DO met with a great calamity. For
months the island of Ceylon had been
parched with drought. They had as
sembled by twos, tens, dozens and hun
dreds under its branches to pray for
faAh, put al NJ Pun PoSe. IL IN GA
tremity representatives from all parts of
the island gathered to the number OF
many thousands and prayed to the tree
for just one refreshing shower before
their withered bodies should perish for
want of water. Hardly had the lamen
tations extended throughout the length
and breadth of the assemblage ere omi-
nous clouds began to gather and the fork
ed lightning to fit in all fantastic freaks
imaginable. The thunder rolled, the
winds roared and the water poured. For
three whole days and nights the island
was overwhelmed with water spouts
and cyclones. Hundreds of blind dovo-
tees chung around the sacred tree and
were killed or drowned during the COM
motion. For these many deaths there
was but little mourning, however. IN The
morning of Oct. z there was great grief
throughout the land, the sacred tree,
which had withstood the cyclones which
had rolled over the island every year for
ro..r $40 oart,,r,as har;no o,r,,,pahad