lac are noted for their quality and their quantity.

"The native flowers are not so rich as you would expect to find; but the
white lilies of the water are as pretty as anywhere, and the flowering
shrubs are beautiful. Of course, if you went out to walk in the jungle you
would find wild-flowers enough to make a bouquet."

"But who would do it?" asked Mr. Woolridge.

"I would for one," replied the doctor. "Why not?"

"The cobra-de-capello!" exclaimed the magnate.

"They are not agreeable companions; but we don't make half so much of them
as you do, sir. I will not meddle with this subject, as it is assigned to
another, and I have no desire to steal his thunder-box. We have all the
flowers of Europe, and probably of America; but they are not indigenous to
the soil, though they thrive very well.

"Especially on the coast, but of course not in the north, you will find
stately palms of all varieties. The banian tree (the English write it
banyan) grows here, and I might talk an hour about it. Something like it is
the peepul, or pipal, though its branches do not take root in the ground
like the other. Its scientific name is the _Ficus religiosa_; for it
is the sacred fig of India, and it is called the bo-tree in Ceylon.

"The peepul is considered sacred by the Hindus, because Vishnu, the
Preserver, and the second person in the Brahminical trinity, was born under
it. This tree is extensively planted around the temples of the Hindus, and
many religious devotees pass their lives under its shade for its
sanctifying influence. It is useful for other purposes; for the lac-insect
feeds upon its leaves, and the women get a kind of caoutchouc from its sap,
which they use as bandoline."

"What in the world is bandoline, Mister?" asked Mrs. Blossom, who had
listened with half-open mouth after the doctor called the tree sacred.

"It is quite English, I dare say," laughed the speaker, while Mrs. Belgrave
was tugging at the sleeve of her friend in order to suppress her. "I
venture to say you have used something of the kind, madame. Our women make
it of Irish moss, and use it to stiffen the hair, so as to make it lie in
the right place.

"I must not forget the bamboo, which is found all over India, and even
12,000 feet up the mountains. Of course you know all about it, for the
slender stem is carried to all Europe and America. As you look at it you
observe that it has the same structure as some of the grasses, the same
joints and