ndians, hundreds of locks of
coarse black hair, teeth, bits of coloured cloth, rags, and morsels of
ribbon. The tree was many centuries old, and had probably had some
mysterious influence ascribed to it, and been decorated with such simple
offerings long before the discovery of America."

Once more, the Calchaquis of Brazil[24] have been in the habit of
worshipping certain trees which were frequently decorated by the Indians
with feathers; and Charlevoix narrates another interesting instance of
tree-worship:--"Formerly the Indians in the neighbourhood of Acadia had
in their country, near the sea-shore, a tree extremely ancient, of which
they relate many wonders, and which was always laden with offerings.
After the sea had laid open its whole root, it then supported itself a
long time almost in the air against the violence of the winds and waves,
which confirmed those Indians in the notion that the tree must be the
abode of some powerful spirit; nor was its fall even capable of
undeceiving them, so that as long as the smallest part of its branches
appeared above the water, they paid it the same honours as whilst it
stood."

In North America, according to Franklin,[25] the Crees used to hang
strips of buffalo flesh and pieces of cloth on their sacred tree; and in
Nicaragua maize and beans were worshipped. By the natives of Carolina
the tea-plant was formerly held in veneration above all other plants,
and indeed similar phases of superstition are very numerous. Traces of
tree-worship occur in Africa, and Sir John Lubbock[26] mentions the
sacred groves of the Marghi--a dense part of the forest surrounded with
a ditch--where in the most luxuriant and widest spreading tree their
god, Zumbri, is worshipped. In his valuable work on Ceylon, Sir J.
Emerson Tennent gives some interesting details about the consecration of
trees to different demons to insure their safety, and of the ceremonies
performed by the kattadias or devil-priests. It appears that whenever
the assistance of a devil-dancer is required in extreme cases of
sickness, various formalities are observed after the following fashion.
An altar is erected, profusely adorned with garlands and flowers, within
sight of the dying man, who is ordered to touch and dedicate to the evil
spirit the wild flowers, rice, and flesh laid upon it.

Traces of plant-worship are still found in Europe. Before sunrise on
Good Friday the Bohemians are in the habit of going into their garden