itself over the soil. Its branches spread very wide, about eighteen or twenty feet from the stem, and then, bending down, the extremities thicken, and continually approach nearer to the earth; when they reach the ground they put forth roots, and each branch becomes a stem or trunk, growing to the size of the largest European oaks or elms. The branches having thus become trees, again shoot out branches bending down, and rooting as before, still extending themselves, often till the whole plant covers a very large space of ground. One of these grove-like trees, growing on an island in the Nerbudda river, about ten miles from Barouch, in the province of Guzerat, has three hundred and fifty principal stems, each as large as timber trees; and these occupy a space two thousand feet in circumference, and the branches, whose hanging extremities have not yet reached the ground, extend much farther. This tree was once much larger than it is at present, for many of the stems have been carried off by the floods of the river, which have washed away part of the soil of the island. The natives affirm, that it is three thousand years old, and very possibly it may be; since, when any of the older central stems decay and leave a vacant space, this is in time re-occupied by fresh stems, produced by the branches growing and rooting, as in the outer side of the grove. A plant possessing such properties as these may be justly termed immortal. Sanctity is very probably ascribed to this tree, because of its aptness to represent the emanation of living things from the parent, or creator, Brahma, who, having received the principle of life from the great supreme Brahme, produced, by a

succession of agents, all the worlds, and all creatures, both animate and inanimate.* The Brahmins, however, assign a reason for the sanctity of this plant more suited to the understanding of the vulgar; and affirm that Vishnu, the preserver, was born under its shade. Under this legend is couched an ingenious allegory, significative of the salutary shade afforded by its branches, impervious to the rays of the sun. On account of the reputed sanctity of the tree, pagodas or temples are commonly erected beneath, or contiguous to its shade; in some instances, one of these trees is planted within the area of the principal court of the pagoda.† The Yogis, or religious ascetics, practise their austerities near it for the same reason; and any injury done to a twig or leaf is considered as a crime scarcely less atrocious than murder. Both the other species of the ficus, though less remarkable in their growth than the ficus Indica, resemble it in the rooting of their extreme branches, and are held sacred, probably, for that very reason; though some ascribe the sanctity of the ficus religiosa to the brown colour of the female flowerets, which bears some allusion to the preserver Vishnu.

But the most sacred of plants in the Indian mythology is the lotos, equally revered by Hindoos, Egyptians, Chinese, and Javanese, and associated with the most remarkable events in their cosmogonies, traditions, and creeds. In the religious services, and in the Sanscrit hymns and legends, the lotos is a frequent subject of simile and comparison. Lacshmi, the goddess of plenty,

"Menu," chap. i.

"As. Res.," Vol. v., No. 20.

the sacti or wife of the protector Vishnu, is sometimes known by the names of Pedma and Camala, in allusion to the holy and increasing lotos. The author of the "Metamorphoses of Sona," frequently uses it to help out his classical allegories; describing the charms of Nerbudda, he says,

56 See, graceful wave, the lotos stalk her arms;
Strive not, vain bracelet, to improve her charms;
Fair lotos flowers her taper fingers glow,

Tinged bright by lacsha,* like each slender toe."

This, like many others in the above poem, is borrowed from the "Gitagovinda "-" Madhava binds on her arms, graceful as the stalks of the water-lily [lotos], adorned with hands glowing like the petals of its flowers, a bracelet of sapphires." In the description of Deva, the lover of Nerbudda, the image occurs in a more beautiful form, in allusion to the powdered appearance of the lotos flower

"Light, graceful from his waist the jammah flows,
Thus on the lotos blue the gold dust shows."

And in another passage, where Nerbudda despatches her slave, Johilla, to observe if the Deva be coming "in due array," she commands her to observe if he be

"Such as becomes Nerbudda's birth and fame."

Commanding her to note,

"If, lion-like, his port be bold and brave;

If the blue lotus blossom on his face ;

If his form wear the palm's aspiring grace."

* Another wood-nymph pressed the juice of lacsha, to dye her feet exquisitely red.-Sacontola, Act. iv., scene 1.

The history of the lotos, though of highest importance as a key to many of the symbols and ceremonies of antiquity, is surrounded by many difficulties; yet this difficulty arises not in the fabulous details to which this plant is related, but in the intense reality of its uses and associations. Hindostan is the birthplace of the lotus, as it is also of the chief features in classical tradition and history. The lotos of Indian differs from that of Grecian, and that of Grecian from that of Roman mythology; though the lotos of India is the truly sacred plant from which the others derive both name and literary importance, and sacred investments. In Egypt the plant known as the lotos is the same in kind as that revered in India, and is a species of water-lily, called, in botany, nymphæa. The lotos of the Greek and Roman writers is falsely so called, for, of the true nature of the lotus they were unacquainted. Herodotus, however, who is generally correct in questions of fact where he gives a statement on the authority of his own experience, most correctly describes the lotos of Egypt as a lily of the nymphæa species. Its botanic name is traceable to its place of growth, as it flourishes in bays and inlets of fresh water, and on the broad waters of great rivers, where a rich mud lies near the surface. The Greeks, borrowing their idea of the lotos from Homer, describe it as the produce of a shrub. The lotos of Homer, however, is distinct from that of ancient India and Egypt, and it is slightly probable that, when Homer sang, it was known in Greece only by name. It could not have been the Egyptian water-lily which formed the bed of Jupiter and Juno, according to Homer; nor

could the horses of Achilles have regaled themselves upon its herbage. It could not not have been any species of nymphæa which so enchanted the companions of Ulysses when they landed on

"The land of lotos and the flowery coast;"

For, in describing the resources of the inhabitants of this region, the poet says―

"The trees around them all their fruit produce,
Lotos the name, divine, nectareous juice."*

Ovid makes the same mistake, or rather adopts an error which had become very prevalent in his day; for, in his elegant fable of Dryope, he derives the name of the lotos from the nymph who escapes from the lawless lust of Priapus :

"Not distant far a watery lotos grows;

The spring was new, and all the verdant boughs,
Adorned with blossoms, promised fruits that vie
In glowing colours with the Tyrian dye.

The trembling tree with sudden horror shook,
Lotos, the nymph (if rural tales be true),

As from Priapus' lawless lust she flew,

Forsook her form; and fixing there, became

A flowery plant, which still preserves her name.”+

* Pope is inclined to believe that it is this kind of lotos which the companions of Ulysses tasted, and which was the reason why they were overcome with it; for, being a wine, it intoxicated them.

† Lotis, or Lotus, a beautiful nymph, daughter of Neptune. Dryope, a virgin, Echalia, beloved by Apollo, and afterwards married to Andræmon, was said to have been changed into a lotos.