at a little distance from the ground, they have roughly carved what is supposed to be the head of an idol, but which no one can recognise as bearing any semblance to a human being; however, like the Romans, they paint the face of the idol red, and adorn it with flowers, and with leaves of a tree which they call here _Pan_, but in other parts of India _Betel_. These flowers and leaves ought to be always fresh, and so they are often changed. The pilgrims who come to visit the tree receive as a pious souvenir the dried leaves which have been replaced by fresh ones. The idol has eyes of gold and silver, and is decorated with jewellery offered by pious persons who have attributed to it the miraculous cure of ophthalmic complaints they have suffered from.... They take the greatest care of the tree, of every branch, nay, of every leaf, and will not permit either man or beast to damage or profane it. Other Banyan or Pagod trees have obtained great eminence. One near Mangee, near Patna, spread over a diameter of three hundred and seventy feet, and it required nine hundred and twenty feet to surround the fifty or sixty stems by which the tree was supported. Another covered an area of one thousand seven hundred square yards; and many of almost equal dimensions are found in different parts of India and Cochin-China.”----In the _Atharvaveda_ mention is made of an all-powerful amulet, which is a reduction, on a small scale, of a Banyan-tree, possessing a thousand stems, to each of which is attributed a special magical property. =BAOBAB.=--The leviathan Baobab (_Adansonia_) is an object of reverential worship to the negroes of Senegal, where it is asserted that some of these trees exist which are five thousand years old. It is reputed to be the largest tree in the world, and may readily be taken at a distance for a grove: its trunk is often one hundred feet in circumference; but its height is not so wonderful as its enormous lateral bulk. The central branch rises perpendicularly, the others spread out in all directions, and attain a length of sixty feet, touching the ground at their extremities, and equalling in bulk the noblest trees. The wood is spongy and soon decays, leaving the trunks hollow. In these hollow trunks the negroes suspend the dead bodies of those who are refused the honour of burial; and in this position the bodies are preserved without any process of embalming. The magnificent snowy blossoms are regarded with peculiar reverence at the instant they open into bloom. The leaves are used medicinally, and as a condiment; dried and powdered, they constitute Lalo, a favourite article with the Africans, who mix it daily with their food, to prevent undue perspiration; a fibre is obtained from the bark that is so strong as to have given rise in Bengal to the saying, “As secure as an elephant bound with a Baobab rope.” The gourd-like fruit, called Monkey-bread and Ethiopian Sour Gourd, is also eaten, and is prized for its febrifugal qualities.