the centre of man's first small world, a garden of fruits and shade. "All unhistorical though the tales may be," continues Forlong, "there is a deep poetry underlying the story of the sacred garden. We naturally picture it as a 'grove,' for man was not yet a cultivator of the ground; amidst the deep shades of Eden, we are told, walked the great Elohim with the man and woman--naked--as created by him through his Logos, _Ruach_, Spirit, or Spouse, but yet 'without the knowledge' which 'the sacred tree of knowledge' was soon to impart." Further on Forlong remarks--"The numerous tales of holy trees, groves and gardens repeated everywhere and in every possible form, fortify me in my belief that tree worship _was first known_, and after it came Lingam or Phallic, with, of course, its female form Adāma." "The serpent being Passion, and symbolic of the second faith, followed, we may say, almost simultaneously; thus we find the sacred garden-groves of all Edens first mentioned, then the instructor, the serpent, and latterly creative powers in Adām and Adāma, or in Asher and Ashera, which last female worship the Old Testament translators call the 'Grove.' We are told it was always set up with Asher, Babel, &c., under 'every green tree' by ancient Israel, and up to a few hundred years before Christ, and not seldom even after Christ. "All Eastern literature teems with the stories told of and under the sacred fig tree, _Ficus Religiosa_, Gooler, a _Ficus Indica_. Under its holy shade, gods, goddesses, men and animals disport themselves, and talk with each other on sacred and profane themes. From it, as from many another holy tree, ascended gods and holy men to heaven, and it and many others are to be yet the cradles of coming Avatars. To the present hour we find thousands of barren women still worshipping and giving offerings throughout the year to this Peepal, or male fig tree of India, to obtain offspring: nor is the female tree, the _Ficus Indica_, neglected; at stated periods this Băr, or true Bānian, must be also worshipped with offerings by all who wish such boons. Under this sacred tree did the pious _Săkyamooni_ become a _Boodh_, or enlightened one; and it is from the rubbing together of the wood of trees, notably of the three Banian trees--Peepal, Băr, and Gooler (_Ficus Sycamores_), _the favourite woods for Phallic images_, that holy fire is drawn from heaven, and before all these species do women crave their desires from God."