DEATH OF A MONKEY. 17 caresses when timorous, and menacing, and even beating them, when refractory. Knowing by instinct the malignity of the snakes, they are most vigilant in their destruction: they seize them when asleep by the neck, and running to the nearest flat stone, grind down the head by a strong friction on the surface, frequently looking at it, and grinning at their progress. When convinced that the venomous fangs are destroyed, they toss the reptile to their young ones to play with, and seem to rejoice in the destruction of the common enemy. On a shooting party under this tree, one of my friends killed a. female monkey, and carried it to his tent; which was soon surrounded by forty or fifty of the tribe, who, making a great noise, advanced towards it in a menacing posture: on presenting his fowlingpiece, they retreated, and appeared irresolute, but one, which from his age and station in the van, seemed the head of the troop, stood his ground, chattering and menacing in a furious manner; nor could any efforts less cruel than firing drive him off: he at length approached the tent door; when finding his threatenings were of no avail, he began a lamentable moaning, and by every token of grief and supplication, seemed to beg the body of the deceased: on this, it was given to him: with tender sorrow he took it up in his arms, embraced it with conjugal affection, and carried it off with a sort of triumph to his expecting comrades. The artless behaviour of this poor animal wrought so powerfully on the sportsmen, that they resolved never more to level a gun at one of the monkey race. The banian tree I am now describing, is called by the Hindoos cubbeer-burr, in memory of a favourite 18 THE BANIAN TREE. saint, and was much resorted to by the English gentlemen from Baroche, which was then a flourishing chiefship, on the banks of the Nerbuddah, about ten miles from this celebrated tree. The chief was extremely fond of field diversions, and used to encamp under it in a magnificent style; having a saloon, dining-room, drawing-room, bed-chambers, bath, kitchen, and every other accomodation, all in separate tents; yet did this noble tree cover the whole; together with his carriages, horses, camels, guards, and attendants. While its spreading branches afforded shady spots for the tents of his friends, with their servants and cattle. And in the march of an army, it has been known to shelter seven thousand men. Such is the banian tree, the pride of Hindostan, which Milton has thus discriminately and poetically introduced into his Paradise Lost: "Then both together went Into the thickest wood; there soon they chose The areca, or betel-nut tree, (the areca catechu, Linn.) is one of the most beautiful of the palmyra tribe; it grows perfectly straight, with an elegant tuft of plumy branches on its summit, overshadowing the blossoms and fruit which are interspersed among them: there THE BETEL-NUT TREE. 19 is a peculiar delicacy in the proportion and foliage of this tree, which makes it generally admired: the Indians compare it to an elegantly formed and beautiful woman; and there is the same allusion in Solomon's song; "How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights! This thy stature is like to a palm tree." C. vii. v. 6, 7. The betel-nut, better known by the name of sooparee, is in appearance like a large nutmeg, enclosed in a thick membraneous covering; and is highly esteemed by the Indians of all descriptions as a fine stomachic, and a preservative of the teeth and gums: they cut it into small pieces, and eat it with a hot pungent leaf, called betel, spread over with chunam, or delicate shell lime; which the natives carry in boxes, like tobacco, and chew it at all hours. The betel is also introduced at visits of ceremony, when the nut is cut into slices, mixed with cardamoms and chunam, and folded up in a betel-leaf, fastened by a clove: these are presented on a salver to each guest at the conclusion of a visit, and is generally an indication to take leave. The betel-leaf, properly so called (piper betle, Linn.) is a plant entirely distinct and separate from the areca, or betel-nut tree; and grows in neat regular plantations, like hop-grounds, creeping up the small poles prepared for their protection. The groves and gardens on Bombay and the adjacent continent, supply the inhabitants with guavas, plantains, bananas, custard-apples, jacas, tamarinds, cashewapples, ananas, jamboos, oranges, limes, citrons, grapes, and pomegranates: but the most useful, plentiful, and best fruit, is the mango (magnifera, Linn.), which grows abundantly all over Hindostan, even in the 20 FRUITS OF HINDOSTAN. forests and hedge-rows, on trees equal in size to a large English oak, but in appearance and foliage more resembling the Spanish-chesnut: this valuable fruit varies in shape, colour, and flavour, as much as apples do in Europe: the superior kinds are extremely delicious; and in the interior resemble the large yellow peach at Venice, heightened by the flavour of the orange and anana and so plentiful are mangos, in the hot season, throughout most parts of India, that during my residence in Guzerat, they were sold in the public markets for one rupee the culsey; or six hundred pounds, in English weight, for half a crown: they are a delicacy to the rich, and a nutricious diet for the poor, who in the mango season require but little other suste nance. The anana, dignified by Thomson as the "pride of vegetable life," needs no description; nor have I ever tasted pine-apples of a superior flavour in the torrid zone, to some produced in the English conservatories. The custard-apples, of two kinds, are pleasant fruits : the pompelmose, or shaddock (malus aurantia, Indica,) is much larger and more esteemed than the orange: the jaca (artocarpus integrifolia, Linn.) is of a prodigious size, growing from the trunk and large branches of the tree; the fruit is luscious, and of a powerful smell; with a seed resembling the chesnut: the guava (psidium, Linn.), shaped like a pear, has something of the strawberry flavour: some of the jamboos are palatable, and that species called the jambo-rosa, or roseapple, has the scent and taste of the rose. The carambola, bilimbing, corinda, halfaluree, and some of the smaller fruits, are pleasant, particularly in tarts and preserves. FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 21 Hindostan is celebrated for a variety of flowers and odoriferous plants, much esteemed by the Asiatic ladies, but generally too powerful for Europeans. The cham pach (michelia champaca, Linn.), which resembles the magnolia glauca, and whose blossoms perfume the air to a great extent, is the most highly prized. The mogree, keurah, oleander, hinna, and several others, whose oriental names and characters it would be uninteresting to detail, together with myrtles, jasmins, and a few Chinese flowers, flourish in the Indian gardens; but two of their principal ornaments are the tube rose and mhadavi (ipomoea, Linn.), the former, both double and single, are extremely luxuriant; and from their alluring fragrance in the cool of the evening, are called by the Malays, soondul mullam, the intriguer of the night. The mhadavi is a most beautiful creeper, covering our seats and arbours with a small monopetalous flower, divided into five angular segments, like fine crimson velvet, surrounded by a foliage uncommonly delicate; it is introduced in the Hindoo drama of Sacontala, translated by Sir William Jones, with the blooming patalis, the balmy usira, and other flowers highly prized by the Hindoo females. How beautiful is the apostrophe of Sacontala to this her favorite plant, when about to leave the sacred groves, where she had spent her early days in innocence and peace. mhadavi! thou lovely creeper, whose red blossoms inflame the grove! O, most radiant of shining plants, receive my embraces, and return them with thy flexible arms! I must, from this day, leave thee! O my beloved father, consider this creeper as myself!" The double and single Japan-rose (hibiscus rosa |