Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/80

 72 PAR Trees of wild and indigenous growth.--Of purely indigenous trees, the pípal* (Ficus religiosa), bargad (Ficus Indica), pákar (Ficus vinosa), amil- tás (Carsiofistula), chilbil (Ulmus integrifolia), kachnár (Bauhinia), bakain (Melia azedarach), sahijna or horse-radish tree (Moringo, pterygo- sperma), sibor, of stunted growth Trophis aspera), are perbaps the most conspicuous. The wood of the pipal is chiefly used as fuel in brick- kilns. The resin or gum, which exudes from the bark, is collected and manufactured into the “chúris" or bracelets worn by native women. Elephants, camels, and other animals browse on the leaves of the pípal and bargad. The glutinous substance found inside the seed-pod of the amiltás is a very old and much valued medicine in the hakim's pharma- copca. The chilbil yields a white pretty looking wood, which is some- times used for making plough bullock-yokes; but it is fragile, and in consequence but little esteemed. The kachnár, when in full blossom, affords a beautiful spectacle, while the flowers emit a fragrance which is almost overpowering. The natives pluck the buds just before they burst into lower, and eat them either raw or prepared as a condiment. The bakain and sahija call for no particular remark beyond that they are exceedingly ornamental trees. The leaves of the sihor are consumed by the cattle, who regularly strip off the smaller branches, and thus no doubt cause the tree to bear that close-cropped stunted appearance which it does. Dhak (Butea frondosa) and rús (Adhatoda vasico) brushwood.-- The small patches of jungle which are now left in this district are princi- pally composed of dbắk and rús brushwood, interspersed with the thomy makoe (Solanum nigrum), dehra, wild karaunda, and sihor. Around most of the old forts of the taluqdars, these thorn bushes were grown so thickly as often to form a dense and impenetrable thicket for several hundreds of yards. The dhák sometimes shoots up into a large tree. I recently came across one which was not less than 40 feet high. The root of the dhák, or “chheol" as it is also called, furnishes a coarse fibre, wherewith ropes are manufactured. Buffaloes are fed on the leaves. The rús is extensively employed in the cons- truction of the fascine-like supports of mud wells. The smaller branches are exceedingly pliant, and are worked round and round in a sort of neat triple plait. The leaf is held to possess high qualities as a manure, and is scat- tered over tbe fields just before the rainy season commences, It is then worked into the soil with the plough, and left to decay with the moisture, and form mould. As fuel it is almost exclusively used in the process of boiling down the cane juice, and is collected into large heaps some days prior to the cutting down of the sugarcane. The bamboo (Bambusa arundinacea).--The ba mboo, though to be met with in abundance in this district, can hardly I think be said to be among the Rindus--the pípal,' the gúlar,' "bargad," pákar,' and mango. the 'pípal' is far the most reverenced. A good Hin lu, who on a journcy sees a pipel tree on his road, will take off his shoes and walk round it from right to Icft (pardachna), and repeat this verse- "Múle Bramha, tuche Bishan, Sakha Rúdr Maheshúran, sir madbe basat Ganga, pátre, pátre Dewánám, Brichh Ráj nemastnte. “The roots are Brabha, the bark Vishún, the branches are the Mahadeos, In the bark lives the Ganges, the leaves are the minor deities. " Lail to thee, king of trecs I" Of these
 * In his chronicles of Oonao, Mr C. A. Elliott, C.S., writes:-" There are five sacred trees