coa-
nut palms, spreading abroad, and waving their graceful plumes high above
all the rest, as if they were a superior race of stately giants keeping
guard over these luxuriant forests. Oh! it was a most enchanting scene,
and I thanked God for having created such delightful spots for the use of
man.

Now, while we were gazing around us in silent admiration, Jack uttered an
exclamation of surprise, and, pointing to an object a little to one side
of us, said,--

"That's a banian-tree."

"And what's a banian-tree?" inquired Peterkin, as we walked towards it.

"A very curious one, as you shall see presently," replied Jack. "It is
called the _aoa_ here, if I recollect rightly, and has a wonderful
peculiarity about it. What an enormous one it is, to be sure."

"_It_!" repeated Peterkin; "why, there are dozens of banians here! What
do you mean by talking bad grammar? Is your philosophy deserting you,
Jack?"

"There is but one tree here of this kind," returned Jack, "as you will
perceive if you will examine it." And, sure enough, we did find that
what we had supposed was a forest of trees was in reality only one. Its
bark was of a light colour, and had a shining appearance, the leaves
being lance-shaped, small, and of a beautiful pea-green. But the
wonderful thing about it was, that the branches, which grew out from the
stem horizontally, sent down long shoots or fibres to the ground, which,
taking root, had themselves become trees, and were covered with bark like
the tree itself. Many of these fibres had descended from the branches at
various distances, and thus supported them on natural pillars, some of
which were so large and strong, that it was not easy at first to
distinguish the offspring from the parent stem. The fibres were of all
sizes and in all states of advancement, from the pillars we have just
mentioned to small cords which hung down and were about to take root, and
thin brown threads still far from the ground, which swayed about with
every motion of wind. In short, it seemed to us that, if there were only
space afforded to it, this single tree would at length cover the whole
island.

Shortly after this we came upon another remarkable tree, which, as its
peculiar formation afterwards proved extremely useful to us, merits
description. It was a splendid chestnut, but its proper name Jack did
not know. However, there were quantities of fine nuts upon it, some of
which we put in our pockets. But