Note 79 — VIII.

The sacred Bo-tree (Ficus religiosa) of the Buddhists is frequently confounded with the Banyan Tree (Ficus Indica), held in such honour by the Brahmins, from which latter it differs in this, that it does not throw out from its branches numberless twigs which take root again in the earth. The incessant waving and rustling of the leaves and branches, which is common to both species of Ficus, is regarded by the faithful Buddhists as the effect of a fear-instilling scene of which the sage was once witness under the Bo-tree; just as the Syrian Christians deduce, from the fact that the Holy Cross was manufactured out of aspen-wood, that this tree is trembling, even in our days, with anguish and terror. Singular, what an important part the fig-tree seems to play in all religions, including the Christian and the Mahometan!