After the fine defcription given by the Roman naturalift, I fhali
not injure Suintus Curtius, by tranfcribing, from Book ix . ch. r,
the few very inferior lines he has written on the fubjeft.
I t is now difcovered to the very fouth of India, and fpreads
through many o f the iilands, even to the Moluccas.. They are
frequently planted in market-places, and are therefore called,.
Waringen daun Bazaar; their extenfive ihade proving very
grateful to all who frequent thofe fpots of bufinefs. The Por-
tuguefe, from its multitude of roots, ftyle it Arbor de raix. It
is by the Eng lift) ufually called the Banyans tree, or more properly
Togey tree, being that under the lhade of which the religious
o f that feet ufually pradtife their fenfelefs aufterities,
Pliny, lib. vii. c. 2, defcribes them under the name o f Gyrhno-
fopbijhn. Philofophos eorum, quos Gymnofophiftas vocant ab
exortu ad occafum praeftare, contuentes falem immobilibus
oculis : ferventibus harenis toto die alternis pedibus infiftere.
Others again have fuppofed this tree to have been the tree of
life, and to have furniihed the leaves with which our firft parents
betrayed their fenfe o f ihame after the fall. Milton adopts
the laft opinion, and gives us the following beautiful verfion of
the Latin naturalift :—
Soon they chofe
T h e fig tree, not the kind for fruit renown’d,
But fuch as at this day to Indians known,
In Malabar or Decan fpreads her arms,
Branching fo broad and long, that in the ground
7 T h e
The bending twigs take root, and daughters grow ■
About the mother s a pillar’d ihade,
High over-arch’d, and echoing walks between :
There oft the Indian herdfman, (hunning heat,
Shelters in cool, and tends his pafturing herds
A t loop-holes cut through thickeft ihade.
A u t h o r s who have treated, or given figures o f this magnificent
tree, are Rheede, in his Hortus Malabaricus, iii. p. 85, tab.
lxiii.; Rumphius, in vol. iii. p. 127. tab. Ixxxiv.; Boullaye di
Gouz, at p. 194.; Linfchotan, in his curious travels, at p. 68, and
Catejby in bis Hiftory o f Carolina, iii. p. 18, and tab. xviii.f
Mr. Hodge's Travels, tab. p. 27. Finally, I may mention the
figures in Clujius's Exotics, p. 2, and that in Gerard, p. 1512,
(copied from the former) bjjt muft obferve that both feem more
regular than nature will admit.
T h a t magnificent bird the peacock {warms in Ceylon >• Its P e a c o c k .-
legs are much longer, and its tail of far greater length in its
native ftate, than they are with us. This moft elegant and fu-
perb o f the feathered creation, is confined (in the ftate o f
nature) to India, and adds highly to the beauty o f the rich
forefts o f that yaffi country, and fome of its iilands. It inhabits
moft parts o f the continent, even as high as Lat. 31° 14' N, fup-
pofing it to be yet found on the Hydrdoies, the modern Rauvoee.
It was imported from India into Greece, as Milan fays, by the
barbarians, by which he muft mean the natives o f the country
of that bird. A male and female were valued at Athens at a
E e 2 thoufand