Page:Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society - Volume 1.djvu/162

126 Dr. Norxpen’s Account of the Banyan-Tree. "herds shelter themselves, in,summer, as it.affords them both shade, and a kind of fenced protection, which, presents an elegant appearance, when you look under it, or view it at a distance, the whole resembling a vaulted, or arched edifice. The upper branches spring, like a forest, from the vast body of the mother-tree : most of them measure sixty paces (nearly one hundred and eighty feet) in circumference ; and they cover a space of two stadia (or upwards of twelve hundred feet) with their shadow. The broad leaves of the tree have the shape of an Amazonian shield: covering the fruit, they prevent it, by this means, from growing ; the fruit is thinly scattered, and does not exceed the size of a (kidney) bean: it becomes matured by the heat of the sun, penetrating through the leaves, is of a very sweet taste, and by its peculiarity adds to the wonders of the tree. The tree grows particularly near the river Acesines.”” ‘

Before I proceed to make any observations on this passage, I will, while the impression of it is fresh in the recollection, subjoin the well-known lines of Milton * relating to the Banyan-tree, which will be found to be copied from Pliny’s description. The poet, speaking of our first parents, after the fall, when they felt shame, and sought for means to cover their bodies, continues thus :

“So counselled he (Adam), and both together went “¢ Into the thickest wood: there soon they chose «° The fig-tree, not that kind for fruit renown’d, « But such as, at this day, to Indians known “ In Malabar or Decan, spreads her arms,t “ Branching so broad and Jong, that in the ground “ The bended twigs take root,{ and daughters § grow «© About the mother-tree, a pillar’d shade || “ High overarch’d, and echoing walks between. “* There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat,

+ Plin. Vastis diffunditur ramis. £ Adeo in terram curvantur, ut annuo spatio infigantur. § Novamque sibi propaginem faciant circa parentem in orbem ; and afterwards, superioris ejus- dem rami in excelsam emicant-vasto matris corpore. || Decord specie, subter intuenti, proculve, fornicato ambitu.
 * In Paradise Lost, IXth Book, v. 1099 to 1111.