{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_37386/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_37386","id":"gutenberg_37386","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37386","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - Ancient","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Phallicism","Tree worship"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttps://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images\ngenerously made available by The Internet Archive.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCULTUS ARBORUM OR PHALLIC TREE WORSHIP.\n\n\n\n\n  CULTUS ARBORUM\n\n  A DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF\n  Phallic Tree Worship\n  WITH ILLUSTRATIVE\n  Legends, Superstitions, Usages, &c.,\n\n  EXHIBITING ITS\n  Origin and Development\n  AMONGST THE\n  Eastern & Western Nations of the World\n  FROM THE EARLIEST TO MODERN TIMES;\n\n  WITH A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS UPON AND\n  REFERRING TO THE PHALLIC CULTUS.\n\n\n  PRIVATELY PRINTED.\n\n  1890.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\n_The present volume forms a companion to three already issued on \"Ancient\nand Modern Symbol Worship,\" denominated severally, \"Phallism,\"\n\"Ophiolatreia,\" \"Phallic Objects and Remains,\" and \"Tree Worship,\" they\nall form parts of one whole, and constitute a Series on the various forms\nand phases of what is known as \"Phallic Worship.\"_\n\n_The subject is an extensive one, and there still remain sections of it\nwhich have not yet been dealt with, but which may be exhibited in future\nvolumes. Although in the compass of the present work it has been\nimpossible to treat the subject in anything like an exhaustive manner, a\ngreat deal of matter has been incorporated in its closely-printed pages\nwhich, attentively perused, will enable the reader to form a just opinion\nof what is included in the title._\n\n_At the end of this volume we have endeavoured to give the student of\nAncient Faiths a Bibliography of works on or connected with Phallism._\n\n_Being the first attempt of the kind, omissions will doubtless be found,\nalthough there are nearly five hundred references given, yet even as it\nis, it will prove of great use and advantage to those making researches.\nIt is divided into two classes--Phallic works, and books bearing more or\nless upon the subject._\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                                                   PAGE.\n\n  CHAPTER I.                                                           1\n\n  Characteristics of Trees--Naturalness of Tree Worship--Origin\n  of the worship--The Tree of Life--Ancient Types--A Tree as a\n  Symbol of Life--Poetical Associations--Sacred Fig-tree--India\n  specially a land of Tree Worship--Trees identified with Gods--\n  Meritoriousness of planting Trees--Auspicious and inauspicious\n  Trees--Ceremonies connected with Tree Worship--Invocation of\n  Tree Gods--Banian Tree--Ritual directions--Santal Worship.\n\n  CHAPTER II.                                                         16\n\n  The Bael-tree--Worship of the Left Hand--Trees of the Sun and\n  Moon--The Arbre Sec, or Dry Tree--The Holy Tree of Bostam--The\n  Bygas of the Eastern Sathpuras--Tree Worship in Mysore--The\n  Palm Tree--Worship of the Palm at Najran--The Tree of Ten\n  Thousand Images--Tree Worship in Persia--Sacred Old Testament\n  Trees--The Classics--Forests and Groves favourite places of\n  Worship--Origin of Groves--Votive Offerings to Trees.\n\n  CHAPTER III.                                                        32\n\n  Arab Tree Worship--Story of Kaimun, the captive slave--Miracle\n  of the Date Tree--Persian bushes--Plane-tree--The Great\n  Cypress--The old man of Diarbekir--The Ferv\u00fcers--Anecdote of\n  Xerxes--Anecdote of a merchant and his wife--The bush of the\n  \"Excellent\" Tree--The Cypresses of the Zoroaster--Motawakel--\n  The Triple-tree of Abraham--Tree of the Club of Hercules--The\n  Tree of Passienus Crispus--The Virgin Mary's Fig-tree--Tree of\n  Mohammed's Staff--The Neema-tree of the Gallas--Irish\n  Superstitions--Saint Valeri--People of Livonia--Destruction of\n  a Sacred Tree.\n\n  CHAPTER IV.                                                         44\n\n  The Bogaha of Ceylon, or God-tree--The Maha Wanse and the\n  Bo-tree--Ceremonies connected with the transplantation of the\n  Bo-tree--Planting the great Bo-branch--Miracles of the\n  Bo-tree--The State Elephant--The Pipal Tree.\n\n  CHAPTER V.                                                          58\n\n  Sacred Trees very ancient in Egypt--Hebrew Trees--The Sycamore\n  at Matarea--Ionic Forms--The Koran on Mary and the Palm-tree--\n  Sacredness of the Palm in Egypt--Tree Worship in Dahome--The\n  Sacred Tree of the Canary Isles.\n\n  CHAPTER VI.                                                         64\n\n  Usefulness of the Ash-tree--Its position among Sacred Trees--\n  The Queen of Trees--Mythology of the Ash--Scotch Superstitious\n  Usages--The \"Ash Faggot Ball\" of Somersetshire--Pliny and\n  others on the Serpent and the Ash--The Ash as a medium of cure\n  of complaints--Anecdotes--Phallic Associations--The New-birth--\n  Ireland and the Ash--The Juniper-Tree--The Madonna and the\n  Juniper--The Elm-tree--Mythology of the Elm--The Apple-tree--\n  Mythological allusions to the Apple-tree--The Pine-tree--Wind\n  Spirits--German Superstitions--The Oak-tree--Universal\n  Sacredness of the Oak--The Oak of the Hebrew Scriptures--Classic\n  Oaks--Socrates and his Oath--Greek Sayings--The Trees Speaking--\n  Sacred Ash of Dodona--Legend of Philemon and Baucis--The\n  Hamadryads--The Yule Log--St. Boniface--Mysteries connected with\n  the Oak--Christmas-trees.\n\n  CHAPTER VII.                                                        85\n\n  Icelandic Customs--The Sacred Ash--The Prose Edda and Tree\n  Worship--Icelandic Mythology of the Ash--The Norns--The\n  Czeremissa of the Wolga--The Jakuhti--Sacred Trees of\n  Livonia--Phallic Tree Worship and objects in Bavaria.\n\n\n\n\nTREE WORSHIP.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n    _Characteristics of Trees--Naturalness of Tree Worship--Origin of the\n    Worship--The Tree of Life--Ancient Types--A Tree as a Symbol of\n    Life--Poetical Associations--Sacred Fig Tree--India specially a Land\n    of Tree Worship--Trees identified with Gods--Meritoriousness of\n    Planting Trees--Auspicious and Inauspicious Trees--Ceremonies\n    connected with Tree Worship--Invocations of Tree Gods--Banian\n    Tree--Ritual Directions--Santal Worship._\n\n\nIn contemplating the various objects to which men, in their efforts to\nconstruct a natural and satisfactory religion, have rendered divine honour\nand worship, it is not surprising to find that trees, flowers, and shrubs\nhave shared largely in this adoration. While it was possible to offer such\na tribute to mere stocks and stones and the works of men's hands, the\ntransition to trees and their floral companions would be an easy one. Most\npeople will agree with the statement, often made, that \"There are few of\nthe works of nature that combine so many and so varied charms and beauties\nas a forest; that whether considered generally or particularly, whether as\na grand geographical feature of a country or as a collection of individual\ntrees, it is alike invested with beauty and with interest, and opens up to\nthe mind a boundless field for inquiry into the mysterious laws of\ncreation. But a forest is not merely an aggregate of trees, it is not\nmerely a great embodiment of vegetable life: it is the cheerful and\npleasant abode of numerous varieties of animal life, who render it more\nanimated and picturesque, and who find there shelter, food, and happy\nhomes.\"\n\n\"There is, perhaps, no object in nature that adds so much to the beauty,\nthat, in fact, may be said to be a necessary ingredient in the beauty of a\nlandscape, as a tree. A tree, indeed, is the highest and noblest\nproduction of the vegetable kingdom, just as man holds the highest place\nin the animal. Whether standing solitary, or arranged in clumps, or\nmasses, or avenues, trees always give freshness, variety, and often\ngrandeur to the scene.\n\n\"Unless a man be a forester or a timber contractor by profession, he\ncannot walk through a forest in spring without having his mind stored with\nnew ideas and with good and happy thoughts. Here is an entirely new\nanimated world opened up to his admiring gaze; a world that seems to be\ninnocent and pure, for everything in it is rejoicing and glad. The first\nglow and flush of life visible all around is so vigorous and strong, that\nman partakes of its vigour and strength. He, too, feels an awakening of\nnew life, not of painful but of pleasant sensations; on every side his eye\nfalls on some form of beauty or of grandeur, and they quietly impress\npictures on his mind never to be effaced, for\n\n  'A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.'\"[1]\n\nIt is easy, therefore, to understand how in times and places where men in\ntheir efforts to adore a Supreme Being, worshipped the beauties and\nwonders of creation, trees should become the representatives of the Divine\nif not actually the gods themselves. \"The sun as the source of light and\nwarmth, the changes of the seasons, the growth of herbage, flowers and\ntrees, great rivers and oceans, mountains and deep glens--in short\nwhatever of the works of nature is most beautiful or awful, and acts upon\nthe intellectual or sensual perceptions, naturally becomes the object of\nadoration. Among these objects trees took an early place. Their beauty\nwhen single, their grandeur as forests, their grateful shade in hot\nclimates, their mysterious forms of life, suggested them as the abodes of\ndeparted spirits, or of existing agencies of the Creator. If the solemn\ngloom of deep forests and groves were consecrated to the most awful of\nholy and unholy mysteries, the more open woodland glades became in\nimagination peopled with nymphs, dryads, and fauns, and contributed to the\nmost joyous portions of adorative devotion. Thus the abstract sacred\ncharacter of trees is not difficult to conceive, and as the intellect\nprogressed among the early races of the world, we can follow among the\nGreeks and the Aryans, as well as the Hebrews, its naturally poetic and\nsacred development.\"[2]\n\nSerpent worship is by no means so easy to account for as tree worship, but\nit is a fact that in many places the two were intimately associated;\nhaving dealt with the first of these in a former volume, we now\nexclusively treat of the latter. Speaking of the naturalness of tree\nworship, Fergusson pertinently remarks--\"Where we miss the point of\ncontact with our own religious notion is when we ask how anyone could hope\nthat a prayer addressed to a tree was likely to be responded to, or how an\noffering presented to such an object could be appreciated. Originally it\nmay have been that a divinity was supposed to reside among the branches,\nand it was to this spirit that the prayer was first addressed; but anyone\nwho has watched the progress of idolatry must have observed how rapidly\nminds, at a certain stage of enlightenment, weary of the unseen, and how\nwittingly they transfer their worship to any tangible or visible object.\nAn image, a temple, a stone or tree may thus become an object of adoration\nor of pilgrimage, and when sanctified by time, the indolence of the human\nmind too gladly contents itself with any idol which previous generations\nhave been content to venerate.\"\n\n\"For the origin of the mysterious reverence with which certain trees and\nflowers were anciently regarded, and of tree 'worship,' properly so\ncalled, we must go back to that prim\u00e6val period into which comparative\nmythology has of late afforded us such remarkable glimpses; when the earth\nto its early inhabitants seemed 'apparelled in celestial light,' but when\nevery part of creation seemed to be endowed with a strange and conscious\nvitality. When rocks and mountains, the most apparently lifeless and\nunchanging of the world's features, were thus regarded and were\npersonified in common language, it would have been wonderful if the more\nlife-like plains--the great rivers that fertilised, and the trees with\ntheir changing growth and waving branches that clothed them--should have\nbeen disregarded and unhonoured. Accordingly sacred ruins and sacred trees\nappear in the very earliest mythologies which have been recovered, and\nlinger amongst the last vestiges of heathenism long after the advent of a\npurer creed. Either as direct objects of worship, or as forming the temple\nunder whose solemn shadow other and remoter deities might be adored, there\nis no part of the world in which trees have not been regarded with\nespecial reverence:--\n\n  'In such green palaces the first kings reigned;\n  Slept in their shade, and angels entertained.\n  With such cold counsellors they did advise,\n  And by frequenting sacred shades, grew wise.'\n\nParadise itself, says Evelyn, was but a kind of \"nemorous temple or sacred\ngrove,\" planted by God himself, and given to man; and he goes on to\nsuggest that the groves which the patriarchs are recorded to have planted\nin different parts of Palestine, may have been memorials of that first\ntree-shaded paradise from which Adam was expelled.\n\n\"How far the religious systems of the great nations of antiquity were\naffected by the record of the Creation and Fall preserved in the opening\nchapters of Genesis, is not perhaps possible to determine. There are\ncertain points of resemblance which are at least remarkable, but which we\nmay assign, if we please, either to independent tradition, or to a natural\ndevelopment from the mythology of the earliest or prim\u00e6val period. The\nTrees of Life and of Knowledge are at once suggested by the mysterious\nsacred tree which appears in the most ancient sculptures and paintings of\nEgypt and Assyria, and in those of the remoter East. In the symbolism of\nthese nations the sacred tree sometimes figures as a type of the universe,\nand represents the whole system of created things, but more frequently as\na 'tree of life,' by whose fruit the votaries of the gods are nourished\nwith divine strength, and one prepared for the joys of immortality. The\nmost ancient types of this mystical tree of life are the date, the fig,\nand the pine or cedar. Of these, the earliest of which any representation\noccurs is the palm--the true date palm of the valley of the Nile and of\nthe great alluvial plain of ancient Babylonia--a tree which is exceeded in\nsize and dignity by many of its congeners, but which is spread over two,\nat least, of the great centres of ancient civilization, and which, besides\nits great importance as a food producer has a special beauty of its own\nwhen the clusters of dates are hanging in golden ripeness under its\ncoronal of dark green leaves. It is figured as a tree of life on an\nEgyptian sepulchral tablet certainly older than the fifteenth century\nB.C., and preserved in the museum at Berlin. Two arms issue from the top\nof the tree, one of which presents a tray of dates to the deceased, who\nstands in front, whilst the other gives him water, 'the water of life.'\nThe arms are those of the goddess Nepte, who appears at full length in\nother and later representations.\"[3]\n\nMr. Barlow informs us that the paradise here intended is the state or\nplace of departed righteous souls, who, according to Egyptian theology as\nexplained in the works of Rossellini, Wilkinson, Lepsius, Birch, and\nEmmanuel de Roug\u00e8, have triumphed over evil through the power of Osiris,\nwhose name they bear, and are now set down for ever in his heavenly\nkingdom. Osiris was venerated as the incarnation of the goddess of the\nDeity, and according to the last-mentioned authority, was universally\nworshipped in Egypt as the Redeemer of souls two thousand years before\nChrist.\n\nThe head of this family was named Poer, and the members of it are shown\nseated in two rows on thorns, one below the other; each is receiving from\nthe Tree of Life, or rather from the divine influence residing in the\ntree, and personified as a vivifying agent under the figure of the goddess\nNupte or Nepte, a stream of the life-giving water, and at the same time an\noffering of its fruit. The tree is the _ficus-sycamorous_, the sycamore\ntree of the Bible, and it stands on a sort of aquarium, symbolical of the\nsacred Nile, the life-supporting agent in the land of Egypt. The tree is\nabundantly productive, and from the upper part of it, among the branches,\nthe goddess Nepte rises with a tray of fruit in one hand, and with the\nother pours from a vase streams of its life-giving water.\n\nMr. Barlow further says--\"In the 'Tree of Life' of the Egyptians, we have\nperhaps the earliest, certainly the most complete and consistent\nrepresentation of this most ancient and seemingly universal symbol, the\nTree of Life, in the midst of paradise, furnishing the divine support of\nimmortality.\"[4]\n\nForlong says--\"In his little work on Symbolism, under the head '_Sacred\nTrees_,' Mr. Barlow has expressed what I have long felt. He says, 'the\nmost _generally received symbol of life_ is a tree, as also the most\nappropriate.... There might be an innate appreciation of the beautiful and\nthe grand in this impression, conjoined with the conception of a more\nsublime truth, and _the first principles of a natural theology_, but in\nmost instances it would appear rather to have been the result of an\nancient and primitive _symbolical_ worship, at one time _universally\nprevalent_.'\" (The italics are Forlong's.) As men came to recognise in\nthemselves two natures--the physical and spiritual, the life of the body\nand the life of the soul--\"So these came to be represented either by two\ntrees, as sometimes found, or in reference to universal life, by one tree\nonly.\" Some thousands of years before even the age _imputed_ to Genesis,\nthere were sculptured on the Zodiac of Dendera, Egypt, two sacred trees,\nthe Western and Eastern; the first was _truth_ and _religion_--the sacred\npalm surmounted by the ostrich feather--the latter, the _vital or\ngenerative force of nature_, beyond which Egypt thought she had risen,\ntherein surpassing her Eastern parent; at least so I feel inclined to\nclass them chronologically. \"Besides the monumental evidence furnished,\"\nsays Barlow, \"of a sacred tree, a Tree of Life, there is an historical and\ntraditional evidence of the same thing found in the early literature of\nvarious nations, in their customs and usages.\" All grand, extraordinary,\nbeautiful, or highly useful trees, have in every land at some time been\nassociated with the noble, wonderful, lovely and beneficial ideas which\nman has attributed to his God or to nature. We can recognise the early\nworship of trees in the reverence of thought which attaches to the two in\nthe centre of man's first small world, a garden of fruits and shade. \"All\nunhistorical though the tales may be,\" continues Forlong, \"there is a deep\npoetry underlying the story of the sacred garden. We naturally picture it\nas a 'grove,' for man was not yet a cultivator of the ground; amidst the\ndeep shades of Eden, we are told, walked the great Elohim with the man and\nwoman--naked--as created by him through his Logos, _Ruach_, Spirit, or\nSpouse, but yet 'without the knowledge' which 'the sacred tree of\nknowledge' was soon to impart.\"\n\nFurther on Forlong remarks--\"The numerous tales of holy trees, groves and\ngardens repeated everywhere and in every possible form, fortify me in my\nbelief that tree worship _was first known_, and after it came Lingam or\nPhallic, with, of course, its female form Adama.\"\n\n\"The serpent being Passion, and symbolic of the second faith, followed, we\nmay say, almost simultaneously; thus we find the sacred garden-groves of\nall Edens first mentioned, then the instructor, the serpent, and latterly\ncreative powers in Adam and Adama, or in Asher and Ashera, which\nlast female worship the Old Testament translators call the 'Grove.' We are\ntold it was always set up with Asher, Babel, &c., under 'every green tree'\nby ancient Israel, and up to a few hundred years before Christ, and not\nseldom even after Christ.\n\n\"All Eastern literature teems with the stories told of and under the\nsacred fig tree, _Ficus Religiosa_, Gooler, a _Ficus Indica_. Under its\nholy shade, gods, goddesses, men and animals disport themselves, and talk\nwith each other on sacred and profane themes. From it, as from many\nanother holy tree, ascended gods and holy men to heaven, and it and many\nothers are to be yet the cradles of coming Avatars. To the present hour we\nfind thousands of barren women still worshipping and giving offerings\nthroughout the year to this Peepal, or male fig tree of India, to obtain\noffspring: nor is the female tree, the _Ficus Indica_, neglected; at\nstated periods this Bar, or true Banian, must be also worshipped\nwith offerings by all who wish such boons. Under this sacred tree did the\npious _Sakyamooni_ become a _Boodh_, or enlightened one; and it is from\nthe rubbing together of the wood of trees, notably of the three Banian\ntrees--Peepal, Bar, and Gooler (_Ficus Sycamores_), _the favourite\nwoods for Phallic images_, that holy fire is drawn from heaven, and before\nall these species do women crave their desires from God.\"\n\nWith regard to the Ficus, Forlong remarks that others besides Jews have\nseen divers reasons why it is said to have been the first covering used by\nthe human race. \"The symbolic trefoil or _fleur de lys_ with its seed\nspringing from its stems, is still used as a Phallic ornament, and the\nleaf, especially of the Bo, is very like the old form of Ph: it has a long\nattenuated point, and is ever quivering on the stillest days. The tree has\nmany peculiarities, not only in its leaves and modes of leafing, but in\nits fruit and modes of multiplying, which could not fail to make it of a\nvery holy and important character in the pious, poetical and imaginative\nmind of the East. Among others the fruit or seed hangs direct from its\nlimbs, yet it is commonly said to be germinated by seed from heaven; birds\ncarry off the seed and deposit it on all high places, and in the trunks of\nother trees; these this Ficus splits asunder and entwines itself all\naround, descending by the parent trunk as well as aerially, by dropping\nsuckers until it reaches _Mother-Earth_, by which time it has most likely\nkilled the parent tree, which has up to that period nourished it. Thus the\nFicus tribe is often hollow in the centre, and if the hollow exist near\nthe base, it is always a very holy spot where will usually be found a\nLingam or Yoni stone, or both, or a temple of Matra-Deva--Deva or\nSiva--the great God of Creation.\"[5]\n\n\"In a country like India, anything that offers a cool shelter from the\nburning rays of the sun is regarded with a feeling of grateful respect.\nThe wide-spreading Banyan tree is planted and nursed with care, only\nbecause it offers a shelter to many a weary traveller. Extreme usefulness\nof the thing is the only motive perceivable in the careful rearing of\nother trees. They are protected by religious injunctions, and the planting\nof them is encouraged by promises of eternal bliss in the future world.\nThe injunction against injuring a banyan or fig tree is so strict, that in\nthe Ramayana even R\u00e1vana, an unbeliever, is made to say 'I have not cut\ndown any fig tree, in the month of Vaisakha, why then does the calamity\n(alluding to the several defeats his army sustained in the war with\nR\u00e1machandra and to the loss of his sons and brothers) befall me?'\"\n\nThe medicinal properties of many plants soon attracted notice, and were\ncultivated with much care. With the illiterate the medicinal virtues of a\ndrug are increased with its scarcity; and to enhance its value it was soon\nassociated with difficulties, and to keep it secret from public knowledge,\nit was culled in the dark and witching hours of night.\n\nTrees have frequently been identified with gods: thus in the Panma Pur\u00e1na,\nthe religious fig tree is an incarnation of Vishnu, the Indian fig tree of\nRudra, and the Palasa of Brahma.\n\nIn the Var\u00e1ka Purana, the planter of a group of trees of a particular\nspecies is promised heavenly bliss, and it is needless to point out that\nfrom the names of the trees recommended, the extensive utility of the act\nmust be acknowledged. Thus it is said, \"He never goes to hell who plants\nan asvatha, or a pichumarda, or a banian, or ten jessamines, or two\npomegranates, a panch\u00e1mra, or five mangoes.\"\n\nThe Tithitatva gives a slightly different list, substituting two\nchampakas, three kesara, seven tala-palms, and nine cocoanuts, instead of\nthe banian, the jessamines, the pomegranates, and the _panch\u00e1mra_.\n\nAs early as the Ramayana, the planting of a group of trees was held\nmeritorious. The celebrated Panchavati garden where Sit\u00e1 was imprisoned,\nhas been reproduced by many a religious Hindu, and should any of them not\nhave sufficient space to cultivate the five trees, the custom is to plant\nthem in a small pot where they are dwarfed into small shrubs. Such\nsubstitutes and make-shifts are not at all uncommon in the ecclesiastical\nhistory of India. In Buddhist India, millions of miniature stone and clay\ntemples, some of them not higher than two inches, were often dedicated\nwhen more substantial structures were not possible. The Panchavati\nconsists of the asvatha planted on the east side, the vilva or \u00c6gle\nmarmelos on the north, the banian on the west, the _Emblica officinalis_\non the south, and the asoka on the south-east.\n\nThe Skanda Pur\u00e1na recommends a vilva in the centre, and four others on\nfour sides; four banians in four corners, twenty-five asokas in a circle,\nwith a myrobalan on one side, as the constituents of a great punchavati.\n\nSuperstition has always been active in drawing nice distinctions between\nthe auspicious and the inauspicious, and it is curious to observe how the\nauspicious qualities of some plants have been extolled. Some are\nconsidered auspicious when planted near a dwelling house.\n\nNo tree with fruit or blossoms can be cut down, as the sloka threatens the\ncutter with destruction of his family and wealth. Therefore never cut down\nany tree that bears good flowers or fruits if you desire the increase of\nyour family, of your wealth and of your future happiness.\n\nSuperstition has associated supernatural properties with many plants, and\nseveral have been identified with the gods.\n\nThe _durv\u00e1_, a kind of grass very common in all parts of India, is\nexcellent food for cattle. It is an essential article in the worship of\nall gods. It is said to have originated from the thigh of Vishnu.\n\nThe religious fig tree makes one rich, the _Jonesia Asoka_ destroys all\nsorrow, the _Ficus Venosa_ is said to be useful in sacrifices, and the\n_Nim_ gives much happiness. _Syzygium Jambolanum_ promises heavenly bliss,\nand the pomegranate a good wife. _Ficus glomerata_ cures diseases, and\n_Butea frondosa_ gives the protection of Brahma. The _Calotropis gigantea_\nis useful as it pleases the sun, every day the bel tree pleases _Siva_,\nand the _Patal\u00e1_ pleases _P\u00e1rvati_. The Asparas are pleased with _Bombax\nmalabaricum_, and the Gandharvas with Jasminum, the _Terminalia_ chebula\nincreases the number of servants, and the _Mimusops elenchi_ gives\nmaid-servants. The _T\u00e1l_ is injurious to children, and the Mimusops\nelenchi productive of large families. The cocoanut gives many wives, and\nthe vine gives a beautiful body; the _Corolia latifolia_ increases\ndesires, and the Pandanus odoratissimum destroys all. The tamarind tree is\nconsidered most inauspicious, and according to the _Vaidya Sastras_, is\nvery injurious to health. The _Carica papeya_ plant is more so. The\nSunflower, Helianthus, is supposed to emit gases that destroy miasma.\n\nThe following trees are said to have peculiar virtues. The Indian fig\ntree, if on the east side of a house, is always auspicious; so also is the\nUdumvava tree if on the west, and the pipul if on the south, &c.\n\nThe following are supposed to have a peculiar influence on particular\nspots. The cocoanut tree near the dwelling-house confers wealth on the\nfamily, and if on the east or north-east of an encampment, the tree is the\ndonor of sons. The mango tree, the best of trees, is auspicious at every\nplace, and if situated on the east, gives wealth to men. The _Bel_ tree,\nthe jack tree, and the citron tree, and the plum tree, are in all\nsituations conducive to prosperity.\n\nThe _Durvashtami_ is one of the many vratas observed by Hindu females.\nIt is celebrated on the eighth lunar day of the bright fortnight of the\nmonth of Bh\u00e1dro. On the day fixed for worshipping Durv\u00e1 a fast is\nobserved, and Durv\u00e1, Gauri, Ganes\u00e1 and Siva are worshipped with rice,\nfruits and flowers. Durv\u00e1 is described as dark as the petals of a blue\nlotus, held on the heads of all the gods, pure, born from the body of\nVishnu, anointed with nectar, free from all sickness, immortal,\nincarnation of Vishnu, and giver of good children, and virtue, wealth and\nsalvation.\n\nA thread with eight knots, and fruits, &c., are presented to Durv\u00e1, and\nthe following prayer is then read--\n\n\"Durv\u00e1, you are called immortal, and you are worshipped both by gods and\nasuras. Having blessed us with prosperity and children, fulfil all our\nwishes. As you extend over the earth with your suckers and branches, in\nthe same way give me healthy and immortal children.\"\n\nAfter the usual puja, the thread with eight knots is tied on the left arm\nand the worshipper listens to the legend of Durv\u00e1 repeated by the\nofficiating priest.\n\nThe Asok\u00e1shtami, the Arunvdaya Saptami, and the Madanotsava, are three\nother vratas in which trees are worshipped.\n\nFrom the Sakrotthana, the rising of India after the new moon preceding the\nDurg\u00e1-puja, the whole fortnight is devoted to one or other form of tree\nworship. Asokashtami is observed on the eighth day of the bright fortnight\nof Chaitra.\n\nIn the month of Chaitra on the thirteenth lunar day, the Madanotsava is\ncelebrated and the Asoka tree is worshipped.\n\nBut the most important instance of tree worship is the Durg\u00e1puj\u00e1. Although\nthe festival is a rejoicing at the promising crops in the field, and\nalthough it may be traced to the solar myth and Ush\u00e1 or dawn worship, it\nis undoubtedly one of the most extensive festivals of tree worship.\n\nAlong with the goddess Durg\u00e1, the _Nava_ patrici or the nine leaves are\nworshipped.\n\nOn the morning of the first day of the puja, nine branches with leaves are\ntied together with a plant of _Clitoria ternata alba_, and a twig bearing\na pair of fruits with suitable mantras, is stuck in the bundle. Before\ncutting the twig, the following mantras are repeated--\n\n\"Sriphala tree, you are born on the mountain Mandar, Meru Kailsa, and at\nthe top of the Himavat, you are always a favourite of Ambica. Born on the\ntop of the Scri hill Sriphala! You are the resting place of prosperity, I\ntake you away to worship you as Durg\u00e1 herself.\n\n\"Om Vilva tree, most prosperous, always a favourite of Sankara, I worship\nthe devi, having taken away your branch. O Lord, you must not mind the\npain generated by the separation of your branch. I bow to the Vilva tree\nborn on the Hymalaya mountain, favourite of Parvasa and embraced by Siva.\nYou are auspicious in action and a favourite of Bhagavati; for the sake of\nBhavani's words, give me all success.\" The bundle is then anointed with\nvarious cosmetics and aromatic drugs and oils, and is placed by the side\nof the idols. The several plants are then separately invoked, and the\ngoddesses presiding over each are worshipped.\n\nThe following are the mantras for worshipping them:--\n\n\"Om, salutation be to Brahmani, the goddess dwelling in the plantain\ntree. Om, Devi Durga, welcome, come near us. In the Brahma form distribute\npeace to all. Om, salutations be to you.\n\n\"Om, salutation be to Kalika, the goddess dwelling in the Arum plant. Om,\ngood-natured in the war of Mahisha dema, you became arum plant. Om, the\nbeloved of Hara, come hither for my blessing.\n\n\"Om, salutation be to Durga, the goddess dwelling in the turmeric plant.\nOm, Haridra, you are Hara incarnate. Om, good-natured you are Um\u00e1\nincarnate. For the destruction of my ill-luck do receive my puj\u00e1 and be\npropitiated.\n\n\"Om, salutation be to Kartika, the goddess dwelling in the Sesvania plant.\nOm, during the destruction of Sumbha and Nisumbha demons, goddess of\nsuccess, you were worshipped by India and all gods. Be pleased with us.\n\n\"Om, salutation be to Siv\u00e1, the goddess dwelling in the vilva tree. Om,\nbeloved of Mahadeva and beloved of Vishnu, beloved of Um\u00e1, vilva tree\nsalute you.\n\n\"Om, salutation be to Raktadantika (blood-teethed), the goddess dwelling\nin the pomegranate tree. Om, formerly in the war, you became D\u00e1dimi in the\npresence of Raktavija demon, you acted the part of Um\u00e1, therefore bless\nus.\n\n\"Om, salutation be to Sokarahita (devoid of sorrow), the goddess dwelling\nin the Asoka tree. Om, Asoka tree, you please Siva and you destroy all\nsorrow. Make me sorrowless in the same way as you please Durv\u00e1.\n\n\"Om, salutation be to Ch\u00e1mund\u00e1, the goddess dwelling in the Man tree. Om,\non whose leaves rests the Devi, beloved of Sachi, for my prosperity\nreceive my puj\u00e1.\n\n\"Om, salutations be to Lakshmi, the goddess dwelling in the rice plant.\nOm, for the preservation of the life of all beings you were created by\nBrahma. Om, preserve me in the same way as you please Um\u00e1.\" (See the Vastu\nYaga and its bearings upon Tree and Serpent Worship in India, by\nPratapachandra Ghosha).\n\nThe Banian or Indian fig tree, is perhaps the most beautiful and\nsurprising production of nature in the vegetable kingdom. Some of these\ntrees are of an amazing size, and as they are always increasing, they may\nin some measure be said to be exempt from decay. Every branch proceeding\nfrom the trunk throws out its own roots, first in small fibres, at the\ndistance of several yards from the ground. These, continually becoming\nthicker as they approach the earth, take root and shoot out new branches,\nwhich in time bend downwards, take root in the like manner, and produce\nother branches, which continue in this state of progression as long as\nthey find soil to nourish them.\n\nThe Hindoos are remarkably fond of this tree, for they look upon it as an\nemblem of the Deity, on account of its out-stretching arms and its shadowy\nbeneficence. They almost pay divine honours, and \"find a Fane in every\nGrove.\"\n\nNear these trees the most celebrated pagodas are generally erected; the\nBrahmins spend their lives in religious solitude under their friendly\nshade, and the natives of all castes and tribes are fond of retreating\ninto the cool recesses and natural bowers of this umbrageous canopy, which\nis impervious to the fiercest beams of the tropical sun.\n\nThe particular tree here described grows on an island in the river\nNerbedda, ten miles from the city of Baroach, in the province of Guzzurat,\na flourishing settlement formerly in possession of the East India Company,\nbut ceded by the government of Bengal at the treaty of peace concluded\nwith the Mahrattas in 1783, to Mahadjee, a Mahratta chief.\n\nThis tree, called in India _Cubeer Burr_, in honour of a famous saint, was\nmuch larger than it has been of late; for high floods have at different\ntimes carried away the banks of the island where it grows, and along with\nsuch parts of the tree as had extended their roots thus far; yet what has\nremained is about two thousand feet in circumference, measuring round the\nprincipal stems; but the hanging branches, the roots of which have not yet\nreached the ground, cover a much larger extent. The chief trunks of this\nsingle tree amount to three hundred and fifty, all superior in size to the\ngenerality of our English oaks and elms; the smaller stems, forming into\nstronger supports, are more than three thousand; and from each of these\nnew branches, hanging roots are proceeding, which in time will form trunks\nand become parents to a future progeny.\n\n_Cubeer Burr_ is famed throughout Hindostan for its prodigious extent,\nantiquity and great beauty. The Indian armies often encamp around it; and,\nat certain seasons, solemn Jattras or Hindoo festivals are held here, to\nwhich thousands of votaries repair from various parts of the Mogul empire.\nSeven thousand persons, it is said, may easily repose under its shade.\nThere is a tradition among the natives, that this tree is three thousand\nyears old; and there is great reason to believe it, and that it is this\namazing tree that Arrian describes when speaking of the gymosophists in\nhis book of Indian affairs. These people, he says, in summer wear no\nclothing. In winter they enjoy the benefit of the sun's rays in the open\nair; and in summer, when the heat becomes excessive, they pass their time\nin moist and marshy places under large trees, which according to Nearchus,\ncover a circumference of five acres, and extend their branches so far that\nten thousand men may easily find shelter under them.\n\nEnglish gentlemen, when on hunting and shooting parties, are accustomed to\nform extensive encampments, and to spend several weeks under this\ndelightful pavilion of foliage, which is generally filled with a great\nvariety of feathered songsters. This tree not only affords shelter but\nsustenance to all its inhabitants; being loaded with small figs of a rich\nscarlet colour.[6]\n\nTrees have always been among the chief divinities of India. In the\n\"Institutes of Menu,\" chap. 3, we find directions to the Brahman for his\noblations, and, after a number of preliminaries, the injunctions\nproceed--\"Having thus, with fixed attention, offered clarified butter in\nall quarters, proceeding from the east in a southerly direction, to India,\nYama, Varuna, and the god Soma, let him offer his gifts to animated\ncreatures, saying, I salute the Maruts or Winds, let him throw dressed\nrice near the door, saying, I salute the water-gods, in water; and oil his\npestle and mortar, saying, I salute the gods of large trees.\"\n\nAn instance of tree worship amongst the Santals or hill tribes of\nBeerbhoom is recorded in Hunter's \"Annals of Rural Bengal,\" as\nfollows--\"Adjoining the Santal village is a grove of their natural tree,\nthe Sal (Shorea Robusta), which they believe to be the favourite resort of\nall the family gods of the little community. From its silent gloom the\nbygone generations watch their children and children's children playing\ntheir several parts in life, not altogether with an unfriendly eye.\nNevertheless the ghastly inhabitants of the grove are sharp critics, and\ndeal out crooked limbs, cramps and leprosy, unless duly appeased. Several\ntimes a year the whole hamlet, dressed out in its showiest, repairs to the\ngrove to do honour to the _Lares Rurales_ with music and sacrifice. Men\nand women join hands, and, dancing in a large circle, chant songs in\nremembrance of the original founder of the community who is venerated as\nthe head of the village Pantheon. Goats, red cocks, and chickens are\nsacrificed; and while some of the worshippers are told off to cook the\nflesh for the common festival at great fires, the rest separate into\nfamilies and dance round the particular trees which they fancy their\ndomestic Lares chiefly inhabit. Among the more superstitious tribes, it is\ncustomary for each family to dance round every single tree, in order that\nthey may not by any chance omit the one in which their gods may be\nresiding.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n    _The Bael Tree--Worship of the Left Hand--Trees of the Sun and\n    Moon--The Arbre Sec or Dry Tree--The Holy Tree of Bostam--The Bygas of\n    the Eastern Sathpuras--Tree Worship in Mysore--The Palm Tree--Worship\n    of the Palm at Najrau--The Tree of Ten Thousand Images--Tree Worship\n    in Persia--Sacred Old Testament Trees--The Classics--Forests and\n    Groves, favourite Places of Worship--Origin of Groves--Votive\n    Offerings to Trees._\n\n\n\"The Bael Tree,\" says Forlong, \"as a representative of the triad and\nmonad, is always offered at Lingam worship, after washing the Lingam with\nwater and anointing it with sandal wood. The god is supposed to specially\nlike all white flowers and cooling embrocations, which last sandal wood is\nheld to be; and he is very commonly to be found under an umbrageous Bael,\nmore especially if there be no fine Ficus near; failing both, the poor god\nis often reduced to the stump of a tree; and if that is also scarce, his\nvotaries raise to him a karn or cairn of stones, with the prominent one in\nthe centre, and plant a pomegranate, bits of tolsi, &c., near; and if\nwater is available, a little garden of flowers, of which the marigolds are\na favourite. My readers must not fancy that this worship is indecent, or\neven productive of licentiousness. It is conducted by men, women and\nchildren of modest mien, and pure and spotless lives, though at certain\nseasons, as in all faiths and lands, the passions are roused and the\npeople proceed to excesses, yet Sivaism is peculiarly free from this with\nreference to others, not excluding Eastern Christianity. Vishnooism, which\nwe may call the worship of _The Left Hand_, or female energies, is perhaps\nthe greatest sinner in this respect. Sivaism is for the most part _harshly\nascetic_, as regards its office-bearers and orthodox followers; yet all\nfaiths give way at certain solar periods, and all Hindoo sects are as bad\nas Romans at the spring 'hilaria or carnival,' the more so if Ceres or\nKybele is propitious, and more apparently so in countries where writings\nhave not yet supplanted pictures. Amongst all the rudest tribes of India,\nand even throughout Rajpootana, and with the strict Jain sects who abhor\nLingam worship, these still shew their parent root by devoting some\nfifteen days annually, after the harvests are gathered in, to the most\ngross form of Lingam worship, in which a complete naked image of a man,\ncalled 'Elajee,' is built of clay and decorated with wreaths of flowers,\n&c., and placed in prominent situations. In most parts of Rajpootana, this\nmale image exists at every city and village gate, but it is not rendered\nconspicuously indecent until the hooly or harvest enjoyments; and low and\ndegrading as these are, reminding us of our purely animal frame, yet no\nHindoo practices of harvest times are so gross as I have seen practised at\nthe harvest homes or midnight revelries of our own country.\"\n\nThe oracular trees of the Sun and Moon, somewhere on the confines of\nIndia, appear in all the fabulous histories of Alexander from the\nPseudo-Callisthenes downwards. Thus Alexander is made to tell the story\n\"Then came some of the townspeople and said, 'We have to show thee\nsomething passing strange, O King, and worth thy visiting; for we can show\nthee trees that talk with human speech.' So they led me to a certain park,\nin the midst of which were the Sun and Moon, and round about them a guard\nof priests of the Sun and Moon. And there stood the two trees of which\nthey had spoken, like unto cypress trees; and round about them were trees\nlike the myrobolans of Egypt, and with similar fruit. And I addressed the\ntwo trees that were in the midst of the park, the one which was male in\nthe masculine gender, and the one that was female in the feminine gender.\nAnd the name of the male tree was the Sun, and of the female tree the\nMoon, names which were in that language Muthu and Ema\u00fcsae. And the stems\nwere clothed with the skins of animals; the male tree with the skins of\nhe-beasts, and the female tree with the skins of she-beasts.... And at the\nsetting of the Sun a voice, speaking in the Indian tongue, came forth from\nthe (Sun) tree; and I ordered the Indians who were with me to interpret\nit. But they were afraid and would not.\"\n\nMaundeville informs us precisely where the trees are--\"A fifteen journeys\nin lengthe, goyinge be the deserts of the tother side of the Ryvere\nBeumare,\" if one could only tell where that is. A medi\u00e6val chronicler\nalso tells us that Ogerus, the Dane (_temp. Caroli Magni_), conquered all\nthe parts beyond sea from Hierusalem to the Trees of the Sun. In the old\nItalian romance also of _Guerino detto il Meschino_, still a chap book in\nsouth Italy, the hero visits the Trees of the Sun and Moon.\n\nIt will be observed that the letter ascribed to Alexander describes the\ntwo oracular trees as resembling two cypress trees. As such the Trees of\nthe Sun and Moon are represented on several extant ancient medals, _e.g._,\non two struck at Perga, in Pamphylia, in the time of Aurelian. An Eastern\nstory tells us of two vast cypress trees, sacred among the Magians, which\ngrew in Khorasan, one at Kashmar near Turshiz, and the other at Farmad\nnear Tuz, and which were said to have risen from shoots that Zoroaster\nbrought from paradise. The former of these was sacrilegiously cut down by\nthe order of the Khalif Motawakkil, in the ninth century. The trunk was\ndispatched to Baghdad on rollers at a vast expense, whilst the branches\nalone formed a load for 1,300 camels. The night that the convoy reached\nwithin one stage of the palace, the Khalif was cut in pieces by his own\nguards. This tree was said to be 1,450 years old, and to measure 33-3/4\ncubits in girth. The locality of this \"Arbol Sol\" we see was in Khorasan,\nand possibly its fame may have been transferred to a representative of\nanother species. The plane as well as the cypress was one of the\ndistinctive trees of the Magian paradise.\n\nIn the Peutingerian Tables we find in the north-east of Asia the rubric,\n\"_Hic Alexander Responsum accepit_,\" which looks very like an allusion to\nthe tale of the Oracular Trees. If so, it is remarkable as a suggestion of\nthe antiquity of the Alexandrian legends, though the rubric may of course\nbe an interpolation. The Trees of the Sun and Moon appear as located in\nIndia Ultima to the east of Persia, in a map which is found in MSS. (12th\ncentury) of the _Floridus of Lambertus_; and they are indicated more or\nless precisely in several maps of the succeeding centuries.\n\nMarco has mixed up this legend of the Alexandrian romance on the\nauthority, as we have reason to believe, of some of the re-compilers of\nthat romance, with a famous subject of _Christian_ legend in that age, the\nArbre Sec or Dry Tree, one form of which is related by Maundeville and by\nJohan Schiltberger. \"A lytille fro Ebron,\" says the former, \"is the Mount\nof Mambre, of the whyche the Valeye taketh his name. And there is a tree\nof Oke that the Saracens clepen Dirpe, that is of Abraham's Tyme, the\nwhich men clepen the Dry Tree. And theye saye that it hath ben this sithe\nthe beginnynge of the World; and was sumtyme grene and bare Leves, unto\nthe Tyme that Oure Lord dyede on the Cross; and thanne it dryede; and so\ndyden alle the Trees that weren thanne in the World. And summe seyn he\nhere Prophecyes that a Lord, a Prynce of the West syde of the World, shall\nwynnen the Land of Promyssioum, _i.e._ the Holy Land, withe Helpe of\nCristene Men, and he halle do synge a Masse under that Drye Tree, and than\nthe Tree shall wexen grene and bere both Fruyt and Leves. And thorghe that\nMyracle manye Sarazines and Jewes schulle hev turned to Cristene Feithe.\nAnd, therefore, they dan gret Worschippe thereto, and kepen it fulle\nbesyly. And alle be it so that it be drye, natheloss yet be herethe great\nvertu, &c.\"\n\nThe tradition seems to have altered with circumstances, for a traveller of\nnearly two centuries later (Friar Anselmo, 1590), describes the oak of\nAbraham at Hebron as a tree of dense and verdant foliage:--\"The Saracens\nmake their devotions at it, and hold it in great veneration, for it has\nremained thus green from the days of Abraham until now; and they tie\nscraps of cloth on its branches inscribed with some of their writing, and\nbelieve that if any one were to cut a piece off that tree he would die\nwithin the year.\" Indeed, even before Maundeville's time, Friar Burchard\n(1283) had noticed that though the famous old tree was dry, another had\nsprung from its roots.\n\nAs long ago as the time of Constantine a fair was held under the Terebink\nof Maimre, which was the object of many superstitious rites and excesses.\nThe Emperor ordered these to be put a stop to, and a church to be erected\non the spot. In the time of Arculph (end of 7th century), the dry trunk\nstill existed under the roof of this church.\n\nThere are several Dry Tree stories among the wonders of Buddhism; one is\nthat of a sacred tree visited by the Chinese pilgrims to India, which had\ngrown from the twig which Sakya in Hindu fashion had used as a\ntooth-brush; and I think there is a like story in our own country of the\nGlastonbury Thorn having grown from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea.\n\nHe who injured the holy tree of Bostam, we are told, perished the same\nday; a general belief in regard to those _Trees of Grace_ of which we have\nalready seen instances in regard to the sacred trees of Zoroaster and the\nOak of Hebron. We find the same belief in Eastern Africa, where certain\ntrees, regarded by the natives with superstitious reverence, which they\nexpress by driving in votive nails and suspending rags, are known to the\nEuropean residents by the vulgar name of _Devil Trees_. Burton relates a\ncase of the verification of the superstition in the death of an English\nmerchant who had cut down such a tree, and of four members of his\nhousehold. (See note on p. 120 of Yule's \"Marco Polo's Travels,\" vol. I.)\n\nThe writer of an article in the _Cornhill Magazine_ of November, 1874, on\nthe Gonds and Bygas of the Eastern Sathpuras (Central Provinces, India),\nsays--\n\n\"My endeavours to obtain a clear insight into their ways were so far\nsuccessful, that after a time they did not object to my being present at\ntheir domestic ceremonies, and gradually the Byga priests supplied me with\nall the information they could give as to their curious custom of tree\nculture and spirit worship.\n\n\"All that they could tell did not throw much light on the subject, for\neven to the Bygas themselves it is extremely vague and mysterious; but the\ncontrast between their acknowledged hatred of trees as a rule, and their\ndeep veneration of certain others in particular, is very curious.\n\n\"I have seen hill-sides swept clear of forests for miles, with but here\nand there a solitary tree left standing. These remain now the objects of\nthe deepest veneration, and receive offerings of food, clothes, or flowers\nfrom the passing Byga, who firmly believes that tree to be the home of a\nspirit.\"\n\nCaptain J. S. F. Mackenzie, some years ago, contributed a paper to the\n_Indian Antiquary_ on Tree and Serpent Worship in Mysore. He said that\nround about Bangalose, more especially the Lal Bagh and Petta--as the\nnative town is called--three or more stones are to be found together,\nhaving representations of serpents carved upon them. These stones are\nerected always under the sacred fig tree, by some pious persons, whose\nmeans and piety determine the care and finish with which they are\nexecuted. Judging from the number of the stones, the worship of the\nserpent appears to be more prevalent in the Bungalose district than in\nother parts of the province. No priest is ever in charge of them. There is\nno objection to men doing so, but, from the custom or from some\nreason--partly because the serpent is supposed to confer fertility on\nbarren women--the worshipping of the stones, which takes place during the\nGauri feast, is confined to women of all Hindu classes and creeds. The\nstones, when properly erected, ought to be on a built-up stone platform\nfacing the rising sun, and under the shade of two _peepul_ (_ficus\nreligiosa_) trees--a male and female growing together, and wedded by\nceremonies in every respect the same as in the case of human beings--close\nby, and growing in the same platform a _nimb_ (_margosa_) and _bipatra_ (a\nkind of wood-apple), which are supposed to be living witnesses of the\nmarriage. The expense of performing the marriage ceremony is too heavy for\nordinary persons, and so we generally find only one _peepul_ and a _nimb_\non the platform. By the common people these two are supposed to represent\nman and wife.\n\nTo speak at length of the Palm tree would require a volume--and that a\nbulky one--rather than a passing notice in a treatise of the most limited\ndimensions. So much does man owe to this tree in the east, that the\ninhabitants of those countries where it flourishes can conceive of no land\npossessing any attraction where it does not exist. An Arab woman lately\nvisiting England once expressed herself to this effect after being shewn\neverything wonderful that the country had possessed, all in her estimation\nfaded into comparative worthlessness when, in answer to her enquiry, she\nwas told that no palm trees grew there. No tree, in consequence, has been\nso highly prized or been made so much of. To say that men have been simply\ngrateful for it, or that they have reverenced it, is to stop short of the\nmark, they have actually deified it and rendered to it divine honours.\n\n\"A conventional form of the palm tree occurs on the Nineveh tablets,\nsurrounded by an enclosure of _palmettes_, and attended by winged\ndeities, or ministers holding the _pine-cone_ symbol of life, which in\nAssyrian sculpture takes the place of the _crux-ansata_ in the hands of\nthe Egyptian deities.\n\n\"The palmette passed from the Assyrians to the Greeks, and formed the\ncrowning ornament of their most beautiful temples. It appears also to have\nbeen a symbol among the Etruscans, and, together with the palm tree, will\nbe found on Etruscan sacred utensils.\"[7]\n\nSir William Ousley, from whose travels we quote in other parts of this\nvolume, describes the tree worship at Najran in Arabia, in which the tree\nwas a palm or _Sacred Date_, having its regular priests, festivals, rites\nand services, and he quotes from a manuscript of the ninth century after\nChrist, and adds this note from a writer on Indian and Japanese symbols of\ndivinity. \"The trunk of a tree on whose top sits Deus the supreme Creator.\nSome other object might be worthy of observation; but I fix my attention\non the _trunk of a tree_. Moreover, whether you go to the Japanese or to\nthe Thibetans, everywhere will meet you _green tree_ worship (which has\nbeen) transmitted and preserved as symbolic perhaps of the creation and\npreservation of the world.\"\n\nThis passage, in the opinion of Forlong, shows clearly the Lingam\nsignification of the trunk:--\"The Koreish tribe, from which the Arabian\nprophet sprang, were from earliest known times worshippers of the palm\ntree, and here, as in other lands, had it been succeeded by the Lingam,\nand latterly by solar and ancestral worship. The Arabs used to hang on the\npalm not only garments or pieces of garments, but arms or portions of\ntheir warrior gear, thereby showing that they saw in the palm virility--a\nHerakles or Mercury.\"[8]\n\nA very remarkable tree found in Thibet was described by Abb\u00e9 Huc in his\ntravels in that and other countries in the years 1844-6, it was called the\n\"Tree of Ten Thousand Images,\" and his account of it is as follows--\"The\nmountain at the foot of which Tsong-Kaba was born, became a famous place\nof pilgrimage. Lamas assembled there from all parts to build their cells,\nand thus by degrees was formed that flourishing Lamasery, the fame of\nwhich extends to the remotest confines of Tartary. It is called Kounboum,\nfrom two Thibetian words signifying Ten Thousand Images, and having\nallusion to the tree which, according to the legend, sprang from\nTsong-Kaba's hair, and bears a Thibetian character on each of its leaves.\"\n\n\"It will here be naturally expected that we say something about this tree\nitself. Does it exist? Have we seen it? Has it any peculiar attributes?\nWhat about its marvellous leaves? All these questions our readers are\nentitled to put to us. We will endeavour to answer as categorically as\npossible.\n\n\"Yes, this tree does exist, and we had heard of it too often during our\njourney not to feel somewhat eager to visit it. At the foot of the\nmountain on which the Lamasery stands, and not far from the principal\nBuddhist temple, is a great square enclosure formed by brick walls. Upon\nentering this we were able to examine at leisure the marvellous tree, some\nof the branches of which had already manifested themselves above the wall.\nOur eyes were first directed with earnest curiosity to the leaves, and we\nwere filled with an absolute consternation of astonishment at finding\nthat, in point of fact, there were upon each of the leaves well-formed\nThibetian characters, all of a green colour, some darker, some lighter\nthan the leaf itself. Our first impression was a suspicion of fraud on the\npart of the Lamas; but after a minute examination of every detail, we\ncould not discover the least deception. The characters all appeared to us\nportions of the leaf itself, equally with its veins and nerves; the\nposition was not the same in all; in one leaf they would be at the top of\nthe leaf; in another in the middle; in a third, at the base or at the\nside; the younger leaves represented the characters only in a partial\nstate of formation. The bark of the tree and its branches, which resemble\nthat of the plane tree, are also covered with these characters. When you\nremove a piece of old bark, the young bark under it exhibits the\nindistinct outlines of characters in a germinatory state, and what is very\nsingular, these new characters are not unfrequently different from those\nwhich they replace. We examined everything with the closest attention, in\norder to detect some case of trickery, but we could discern nothing of the\nsort, and the perspiration absolutely trickled down our faces under the\ninfluence of the sensations which this most amazing spectacle created.\nMore profound intellects than ours may, perhaps, be able to supply a\nsatisfactory explanation of the mysteries of this singular tree; but as to\nus, we altogether give it up. Our readers possibly may smile at our\nignorance, but we care not, so that the sincerity and truth of our\nstatement be not suspected.\n\n\"The Tree of Ten Thousand Images seemed to us of great age. Its trunk,\nwhich three men could scarcely embrace with outstretched arms, is not more\nthan eight feet high; the branches instead of shooting up, spread out in\nthe shape of a plume of feathers, and are extremely bushy; few of them are\ndead. The leaves are always green; and the wood which has a reddish tint,\nhas an exquisite odour, something like that of cinnamon. The Lamas\ninformed us that in summer, towards the eighth moon, the tree produces\nlarge red flowers of an extremely beautiful character. They informed us\nalso that there nowhere else exists another such tree; that various\nattempts have been made in various Lamaseries of Tartary and Thibet to\npropagate it by seeds and cuttings, but that all these attempts have been\nfruitless.\n\n\"The Emperor Khang-Hi, when upon a pilgrimage to Kounboum, constructed, at\nhis own private expense, a dome of silver over the Tree of Ten Thousand\nImages; moreover, he made a present to the Grand Lama of a fine black\nhorse, capable of travelling a thousand lis a day, and of a saddle adorned\nwith precious stones. The horse is dead, but the saddle is still shown in\none of the Buddhist temples, where it is an object of special veneration.\nBefore quitting the Lamasery, Khang-Hi endowed it with a yearly revenue\nfor the support of 350 Lamas.\"\n\nSir William Ousely says that when in Persia he endeavoured to obtain\ninformation from the people respecting the ideas generally formed of\nPeries or Fairies; imaginary creatures, beautiful and benevolent; also of\nthe Gh\u00fales or \"Demons of the Desert,\" a hideous race, that sometimes haunt\ncemeteries, and particularly infest a dreary tract in the North of Persia,\nnot far from Teher\u00e1n, bearing the portentous name of _Melek al mowt\ndereh_, or \"Valley of the Angel of Death.\" Concerning the _Jins_ or Gen\u00fc,\nhe found they were not restricted to any particular region, but that the\ngigantic monsters called Dives or Dibes, resided peculiarly among the\nrocks and forests of _Mazenderan_ or Hyrcania.\n\nHe then proceeds:--\"Those preternatural beings, and others which shall be\nhereafter mentioned, were the subjects of our conversation when we passed\nby an old and withered tree half covered with rags, fastened as votive\nofferings, to the branches; it being one of those entitled by the Persians\n_dirakht i f\u00e1zel_, 'excellent or beneficial trees,' and held in\nsuperstitious veneration. I had already seen four or five near A'bd\u00fai, and\ntwo or three previously in other places, since our departure from Bushehr;\nand now ascertained that their supposed sanctity did not depend either on\nthe species, the size, or beauty of the trees; nor on their age, although\nmost were old; but often proceeded from accidental, and even trivial\ncircumstances; yet since the reverence paid to trees seemed nearly as\nancient, and as widely diffused as any other form of superstition, I have\nbeen frequently induced to make it the object of personal inquiry among\nAsiatics, and of literary research at home. The result now before me would\nconstitute a volume of no inconsiderable size, for the subject may be\ntraced from this present day to the earliest ages of which written records\nfurnish an account; through every country of the old, and, probably, of\nthe new world. The sacred Hebrew scriptures allude to it in many places;\nwe find it mentioned by Greek and Roman authors; various anecdotes\nrespecting it occur in Eastern manuscripts; and it has been noticed by\nseveral European travellers and antiquaries.\"\n\nFurther in his work, the same author observes:--\"However replete with\ninteresting objects, the ample field of antiquarian research offers but\nfew to our notice under a more attractive form than trees, whether we\nregard them as distinguishing remarkable spots, the scenes of memorable\ntransactions, as dedicated to certain divinities, or, as in some cases,\nalmost identified with those divinities themselves.\"\n\n\"It is not my intention, nor is it necessary here, to trace back the\nhistory of that veneration with which particular trees have been honoured\nin all ages, and, I believe, in all countries. The Biblical reader will\neasily recollect many important trees besides that which stood in the\nmidst of the garden of Eden, emphatically styled the 'tree of life,' and\nthe 'tree of knowledge of good and evil.' He will recollect the idolatrous\nworship in _groves_, and under every _green tree_ (Exod. xxxiv. 13, Deut.\nxvi. 21, &c.) The oak by Shechem, under which Jacob hid all the idols and\nearrings (Gen. xxxv. 4). The oak near Bethel which marked the grove of\nDeborah, and was significantly called _Allonbachuth_ (Gen. xxxv. 8). The\npalm tree under which Deborah, the prophetess, dwelt (Judges iv. 5). The\noak under which sat 'the man of God' (Kings xiii. 14). The oak in Ophrah,\nunder which the angel of God appeared unto Gideon and conversed with him\n(Judges vi. 11, 14, 16). The oak that was in the very Sanctuary of the\nLord (Joshua xxiv. 26).\n\n\"These and other trees which we may suppose lofty and umbrageous, such as\nthe oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good (Hosea\niv. 3), must immediately recur to a Biblical reader; but the course of\nthis article will remind him also of that humble bush which the Lord\nconsecrated by his presence, when he revealed himself to Moses in flaming\nfire on the mountain of Horeb (Exod. iii. 2, 4). With whatever veneration\nour first parents regarded the trees of Paradise, it appears that some\nwhich grew in natural and common earth were actually worshipped by the\nperverse Israelites of early ages, according to a learned Jew, one of\nthose Rabbinical writers whose authority is most respected.[9]\n\n\"But the immediate object of this article and the narrow limits of an\nappendix do not allow me to expatiate farther amidst the groves of\nScriptural history or of Jewish superstition. Nor can I enjoy more than a\nhasty glance at those trees reputed sacred in classical antiquity; of\nwhich such number offer themselves to the imagination as would constitute\nwhole forests. So frequently were groves and woods dedicated to religious\npurposes that at last those very terms (in Greek _alsos_, _lucus_ in\nLatin), implied consecration.\n\n\"Turning for a moment or two to the \"Arch\u00e6ologia Gr\u00e6ca\" of the learned Dr.\nJohn Potter, we find numerous interesting items of information suitable\nfor insertion here.\n\n\"The temples in the country were generally surrounded with groves sacred\nto the tutelar deity of the place, where, before the invention of temples,\nthe gods were worshipped.\n\n\"The most usual manner of consecration of images and altars was by\nputting a crown upon them, anointing them with oil, and then offering\nprayers and oblations to them. Sometimes they added an execration against\nall that should presume to profane them, and inscribed upon them the name\nof the deity and the cause of their dedication. In this manner the Spartan\nvirgins, in Theocritus's eighteenth Idyllium, promise to consecrate a tree\nto Helena; for it was customary to dedicate trees or plants after the same\nmanner, and with altars and statues:\n\n  'We first a crown of creeping lotus twine,\n  And on the shadowy plane suspend, as thine;\n  We first beneath the shadowy plane distil\n  From silver vase the balsam's liquid rill;\n  Graved on the bark the passenger shall see\n  Adore me, traveller! I am Helen's Tree.'\n\nOvid likewise, in the eighth book of his Metamorphoses, speaks of adorning\nthem with ribands:\n\n  'An ancient oak in the dark centre stood,\n  The covert's glory, and itself a wood:\n  Ribands embrac'd its trunk, and from the boughs\n  Hung tablets, monuments of prosperous vows.'\n\nIt may here be farther observed, that altars were often erected under the\nshade of trees. Thus we find the altar of Jupiter Herceus placed within\nthe court of Priamus, king of Troy:\n\n  'Within the courts, beneath the naked sky,\n  An altar rose; an aged laurel by;\n  That o'er the hearth and household gods displayed\n  A solemn gloom, a deep majestic shade.'\n\nBut where groves of trees could be had, they were preferred before any\nother place. It was so common to erect altars and temples in groves, and\nto dedicate them to religious uses, that all sacred places, even those\nwhere no trees were to be seen, were called groves, as we learn from\nStrabo.[10] And it seems to have been a general custom which prevailed,\nnot only in Europe, but over all the eastern countries, to attribute a\nsort of religion to groves. Hence, among other precepts, whereby the Jews\nwere kept from the imitation of the Pagan religion, this was one: 'Thou\nshalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord\nthy God' (Deut. xvi. 21).\n\n\"This practice is thought to have been introduced into Greece from\nPhoenicia by Cadmus. And some are of opinion that hence Ascra, a village\nin Boeotia, where Hesiod was born, received its name. Several causes are\nassigned why groves came into so general request.\n\n\"At first, the pleasantness of such places was apt to allure the people,\nand to beget in them a love for the religious worship which was paid\nthere; especially in hot countries, where nothing is more delightful and\nrefreshing than cool shades; for which cause the sacred groves consisted\nof tall and beautiful trees, rather than such as yield fruit. Hence Cyril\ndoes expressly distinguish the tree fit for groves from that which bears\nfruit, it being the custom to plant groves, not with vines or fig trees,\nor others which produced fruit, but only with trees which afford no fruit\nfor human use, merely for the sake of pleasure. Thus one of the temples of\nDiana is described by Herodotus as standing within a grove of the largest\ntrees. And the way to Mercury's temple was set up on both sides with trees\nreaching up to heaven, as we are told by the same historian. The same is\nfarther confirmed by the descriptions of groves which remain in the\nancient poets.\n\n\"Secondly, the solitude of groves was thought very fit to create a\nreligious awe and reverence in the minds of the people. Thus we are told\nby Pliny, that in groves, _ipsa silentia adoramus_, the very silence of\nthe place becomes the object of our adoration. Seneca also observes, that\nwhen we come into such places, _illa proceritas sylv\u00e6_, _et secretum\nloci_, _et admiratio umbr\u00e6_, _fidem numinis facit_, the height of the\ntrees, the solitude and secrecy of the place, and the horror which the\nshade strikes into us, does possess us with an opinion that some deity\ninhabits there.\n\n\"It may not be impertinent to add one testimony more from Ovid, who speaks\nthus:\n\n  'A darksome grove of oak was spread out near,\n  Whose gloom impressive told, A God dwells here.'\n\n\"Thirdly, some are of opinion that groves derived their religion from the\nprimitive ages of men, who lived in such places before the building of\nhouses. Thus Tacitus reports of the ancient Germans, that they had no\nother defence for their infants against wild beasts or the weather than\nwhat was afforded _ramorum nexu_, by boughs of trees compacted together.\nAll other nations lived at first in the same manner; which was derived\nfrom Paradise, the seat of the first parents of mankind. And it is not\nunworthy of observation, that most of the ceremonies used in religion were\nfirst taken from the customs of human life....\n\n\"In latter ages, when cities began to be filled with people, and men to\ndelight in magnificent edifices and costly ornaments, more than the\ncountry and primitive way of living, groves by degrees came into disuse.\nYet such of the groves as remained from former times were still held in\ngreat veneration, and reverenced the more for the sake of their antiquity.\nAs in the earlier times it was accounted an act of sacrilege to cut down\nany of the consecrated trees, which appears from the punishment inflicted\nby Ceres upon Erichthonius for this crime, whereof there is a prolix\nrelation in Callimachus; so in latter ages, the same was thought a most\ngrievous wickedness; whereof it will be sufficient to mention this one\nexample, where Lucan speaks of C\u00e6sar's servants, in allusion to the fable\nof Lycurgus, who endeavouring to destroy the vines of Bacchus, cut off his\nown legs:\n\n                                'But valiant hands\n  Then falter'd. Such the reverend majesty\n  That wrapt the gloomy spot, they feared the axe\n  That struck those hallow'd trees would from the stroke\n  Recoil upon themselves.'--ELTON.\"\n\nOuseley proceeds--\"The trunk or stump of a single tree afforded most\nobvious materials for a bust or statue; and even unfashioned by human art,\nbecame on some occasions an object of idolatrous worship, whilst any rude\nflat stone, or heap of earth at its base, served as an altar, and the\nsurrounding grove as a temple. That groves in ancient times were\nconsidered as temples we learn from Pliny. Treating of the respect paid to\ntrees, he says that they were formerly Temples of the Gods, and that even\nin his time the rustics, observing ancient usage, dedicated to the Deity\nany tree of pre-eminent beauty or excellence. There is authority for\nbelieving that images were placed in groves sooner than within the walls\nof religious edifices; also that in the formation of statues, wood was\nemployed before stone or marble, as appears from Pausanias, and is\ndeclared by many antiquaries, as for instance Caylus, Winkelmann, and\nErnesti.\n\n\"That various trees were consecrated, each to a particular divinity, we\nknow from numerous passages so familiar to every classical reader, that I\nneed scarcely quote on this subject Virgil and Pliny. The statue of each\ngod was often (perhaps generally though not necessarily), made from the\ntree esteemed sacred to him. But I shall not here trace the idol\nworshipped while yet merely a rude trunk or stock, and in that state\ncalled Sanis, through the Xoanon, when the wood was pared or shaven until\nit became a Deikelon or Bretas, having assumed a likeness, however faint,\nof the human form. This progress has been described by several writers on\nthe Religion and Arts of Greece, such as Vossius, Gronovius, Gr\u00e6nius and\nSpence, as well as those already mentioned.\n\n\"But it must not be here forgotton that as votive offerings, or as tokens\nof veneration, wreaths and fillets, and chaplets or garlands were often\nsuspended from the sacred branches; a more elegant and far more innocent\nform of homage to a Divinity than (as among some nations) the staining of\ntrees with blood which had just flowed from the expiring victim, not\nunfrequently human.\n\n\"Concerning those offerings and wreaths and chaplets, a multiplicity of\nGreek and Latin extracts might here be adduced, and illustrated by means\nof the devices on medals, and sculptured marbles, the paintings on vases,\nand other precious monuments of antiquity. But the limits usually assigned\nto an appendix admit few quotations.\"\n\nSir William proceeds to notice those lines wherein, mentioning the\nintended consecration of a shady plane-tree to Helen (who was daughter of\nJupiter, and worshipped as a goddess in the Troad, in Rhodes and\nLacedemon), Theocritus[11] describes the Spartan virgins declaring that\nthey would begin the ceremony by placing on it a twisted or woven wreath\nof the humble growing lotus.\n\nAnd Ovid's[12] mention of the wreaths hanging from a sacred tree, and the\naddition of recent offerings; and his story of Eresicthon,[13] who\nimpiously violated the ancient woods of Ceres, cutting down the sacred\noak, which was in itself equal to a grove, and hung round with garlands,\nfillets and other votive offerings.\n\nAnd those lines in which Statius[14] records a vow, promising that an\nhundred virgins of Calydon, who ministered at the altars, should fasten to\nthe consecrated tree chaplets and fillets, white and purple interwoven.\n\nAnd the same poet's account of the celebrated Arcadian oak, sacred to\nDiana, but itself adorned as a divinity, and so loaded with rustic\nofferings that there was \"scarcely room for the branches.\"\n\nThe palm was deemed sacred in Egypt according to Porphyry; and Herodotus\nmentions those palms that surrounded the temple of Perseus (Lib. II., cap.\n91); the grove of immense trees, and the trees reaching to heaven, about\nthe temple of Bubastis or Diana (Lib. II., c. 138); and those at the great\ntemple of Apollo (Lib. II., c. 156).\n\nSir William Ousley says--\"We may believe, also, that a sacred mulberry\ntree gave its name, _Hiera Sycaminos_, to a town or station near the river\nNile.\n\n\"Hiera Sycaminos, fifty-four miles above Syene, according to Pliny, Nat.\nHist., Lib. VI. c. 29; also in Ptolemy's Georgr., Lib. IV., c. 5; and in\nthe Peutingerian or Theodosian tables.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n    _Arab Tree Worship--Story of Kaimun, the Captive Slave--Miracle of the\n    Date Tree--Persian Bushes--Plane Tree--The Great Cypress--The Old Man\n    of Diarbekir--The Fero\u00fcers--Anecdote of Xerxes--Anecdote of a Merchant\n    and his Wife--The Bush of the \"Excellent Tree\"--The Cypresses of\n    Zoroaster--Motawakel--The Triple Tree of Abraham--Tree of the Club of\n    Hercules--The Tree Menelais--The Tree of Passienus Crispus--The Virgin\n    Mary's Fig Tree--Tree of Mohammed's Staff--The Neema Tree of the\n    Gallas--Irish Superstitions--Saint Valeri--People of\n    Livonia--Destruction of a Sacred Tree._\n\n\nAmong the Pagan Arabs of a very early date according to Ousley, was a tree\nworshipped by certain tribes as an idol, under the name of _Aluzza_ or\n_Alozza_, according to original authority, cited by the learned Pococke.\nThis is said to have been the Egyptian Thorn or Acacia, a reference to\nwhich is found in the Preliminary Discourse to Sale's translation of the\nKoran. \"_Al Uzza_, as some affirm, was the idol of the tribes of _Koreish_\nand _Kenanah_, and part of the tribe of _Salim_; others tell us it was a\ntree called the Egyptian Thorn or Acacia, worshipped by the tribe of\nGhatsan, first consecrated by one Dhalem, who built a chapel over it\ncalled Boss, so contrived as to give a sound when any person entered.\"\n\nThe manuscript chronicle of Tabri, written in the ninth century, says that\nthe people of Najr\u00e1n (in Yemen or Arabia Felix) had been idolaters, like\nall the neighbouring tribes, until a remarkable event induced them to\nembrace Christianity. \"And they had,\" says he, \"outside the city, a date\ntree of considerable base; and every year on a certain day, they held a\nsolemn festival; and on that day all the people assembled round the tree,\nand they covered it with garments of rich embroidery, and brought all\ntheir idols under it; and they went in ceremonious procession about that\ntree, and offered up prayers, and an evil spirit or devil spoke to them\nfrom the midst of it, and they having paid reverence to that tree,\nreturned. It afterwards happened,\" continues the historian, \"that a man\nof Syria, named Kaimun, a descendant from the Apostles of Jesus, came into\nArabia, fell among thieves, was taken and sold as a slave in the land of\nNajr\u00e1n. Here his master surprised him at midnight, reading the Gospel by a\nray of celestial light, which illuminated the whole house, and Kaimun soon\nafter, through divine assistance, caused the tree which had been\nworshipped as a divinity, to come forth, root and branch, from the earth;\nsuch a miracle effected an instantaneous conversion of the people, who\ndestroyed all their idols and became zealous disciples of Jesus.\"\n\n\"Whatever circumstances in this anecdote may appear marvellous, there is\nlittle reason to doubt that a tree was once among the objects of\nidolatrous veneration at Najr\u00e1n; and as we learn from authentic history,\nthe people of that place were cruelly persecuted for their adherence to\nChristianity, by Dh\u00fa Nawa's, also named Yusef (Joseph), a prince of the\nJewish religion, who reigned in the sixth century; about seventy years\nbefore Mahommed. That the ancient Arabians practised pagan rites, we learn\nfrom Zakaria Cazvini, who wrote in the thirteenth century. They observed,\nsays he, at first, the religion of Abraham, but afterwards sunk into gross\nidolatry; some worshipping a stone, and some a tree. He then relates the\nstory of that tree-idol, _Aluzza_, above mentioned, with a slight\nvariation of circumstances, not claiming particular notice.\"\n\nThe trees and bushes which the modern Persians regard with particular\nrespect, have been noticed by most travellers in that country. Mr. Morier,\nin his journey through Persia in the years 1808-9 (vol. I., p. 230), says\nthat according to superstitious belief, the rags deposited on certain\nbushes by persons suffering from diseases, and taken thence by other\npatients, who in turn substitute their own, prove an infallible remedy. In\nhis second volume also (p. 239), he mentions the tomb of some Persian\nsaint, and growing close to it, a small bush on which were fastened\nvarious rags and shreds of garments; these, as was generally fancied, had\nacquired from their vicinity to the saint, virtues peculiarly efficacious\nagainst sickness.\n\nIn the eighteenth century, it was remarked by Chardin at Ispahan, that the\nreligious Mahommedans chose rather to pray under a very old tree than in\nthe neighbouring mosque. They devoutly reverence, says he, those trees\nwhich seem to have existed during many ages, piously believing that the\nholy men of former times had prayed and meditated under their shade.\n\nHe noticed also at Ispahan a large and ancient plane, all bristling with\nnails and points, and hung with rags as votive offerings from dervishes,\nwho, like monks of the Latin church, were professed mendicants, and came\nunder the tree to perform their devotions. He next describes another\nplane, said to be in his time above one thousand years old; it was black\nwith age, and preserved with extreme care. This attention, adds he, arises\nfrom a superstitious respect entertained by the Persians for those ancient\ntrees already mentioned. They call them _Dracte fasel_, or _the excellent\ntrees_, venerating them as having been miraculously preserved by God so\nmany years, because they had afforded shade and shelter to his faithful\nservants, the Dervishes and others professing a religious life. Another\nplane, one of these _excellent trees_, held in veneration, to which the\ndevout resorted, is then described by this celebrated traveller (tome\nVIII., p. 187). One, also, at _Shir\u00e1z_, to which they tied chaplets,\namulets, and pieces of their garments; while the sick (or some friends for\nthem) burned incense, fastened small lighted tapers to the tree, and\npractised other superstitions in hopes of thereby restoring health.\nThroughout all Persia, adds Chardin, these _Dracte fasels_ are venerated\nby the multitude, and they appear all stuck over with nails used in fixing\nin them shreds of clothes and other votive offerings. Under their shade\nthe pious love to repose whole nights, fancying they behold resplendent\nlights, the souls of _Aoulia_ or blessed saints, who had under the same\ntrees performed their devotions. To those spirits, persons afflicted with\ntedious maladies devote themselves; and if they recover, the cure is\nattributed to their influence and proclaimed a miracle.\n\nThe plane trees of Persia, the reverence paid to them as divinities, and\nthe worship accorded them on account of their great age, are mentioned\nalso by others, notably by Father Angelo, who resided in the country for a\nconsiderable period.\n\nOusley says--\"Pietro della Valle, in 1622, celebrated the great Cypress of\nPassa, anciently Pasagarda according to the general opinion; and, nearly\ntwo hundred years after, I beheld this beautiful tree with admiration\nequal to that expressed by the Italian traveller. He mentions that it was\nregarded with devotion by the Mahomedans; that tapers were often lighted\nin the capacious hollow of its trunk, as in a place worthy of veneration;\nthe people respecting large and ancient trees, supposing them to be\nfrequently the receptacles of blessed souls, and calling them on that\naccount, _Pir_ or 'aged,' a name equivalent to the Arabic _Sheikh_; also\n_Im\u00e1m_, signifying a priest or pontiff; so they entitle those of their\nsect whom they imagine to have died in the odour of sanctity. Therefore\nwhen they say that such a tree or such a place is a Pir, they mean that\nthe soul of some holy elder, a venerable personage whom they believe\nblessed, delights to reside in that tree or to frequent that spot. This\nmost excellent traveller then observes that the veneration paid to trees\nmay be considered as a remnant of ancient paganism, and aptly quotes\nvarious lines from Virgil in confirmation thereof.\"\n\nSimilar testimony to the above is supplied by Barbaro, who, two centuries\nbefore Chardin and Angelo, when travelling through Persia observed\nthornbushes to which were attached great numbers of old rags and scraps of\ngarments, supposed to be efficacious in banishing fevers and other\ndisorders.\n\n\"Whatever suspicion,\" says Ousley, \"may be excited by this practice\" we\nare discussing, \"it is certain that the Mahommedans shudder at any\nimputation of idolatry, and fancy that in their addresses or offerings to\nthose trees, they only invoke the true God, the great Creator. This will\nappear from an anecdote related by Saadi, who was born in the twelfth and\nlived during most part of the thirteenth century, eminent among Persian\npoets and philosophers. It occurs in the sixth chapter of his _Gulistan_,\nor Rose Garden, a work which has been published in various European\nlanguages, and so well translated into English by Mr. Gladwin, that I\nshall borrow his words upon this occasion, as it would be unnecessary and\npresumptuous to substitute my own. 'In the territory of Diarbeker I was\nthe guest of a very rich old man, who had a handsome son. One night he\nsaid, 'during my whole life I never had but this son. Near this place is a\nsacred tree, to which men resort to offer up their petitions. Many nights\nI besought God until he bestowed on me this son.' I heard that the son was\nsaying to his friends in a low tone of voice, how happy should I be to\nknow where that tree grows, in order that I might implore God for the\ndeath of my father.'\"\n\n\"It seems probable that the early _Muselmans_ who invaded _Iran_ or Persia\nin the seventh century, found this invocation of trees established there\nfrom ages long elapsed, and that they soon adopted the popular\nsuperstition (if, indeed, some practices of the same or of a similar\nnature were not already frequent among themselves), reconciling it to\ntheir own faith, by addressing the Almighty, or, as we have seen, the\nintermediatory spirits of the saints. By the ancient Persians, especially\nthose who professed Magism as reformed according to Zeratusht or\nZoroaster, image-worship and other forms of gross idolatry, were held in\nas much abhorrence as afterwards by the Muselmans themselves; and they\ncontemplated the Sun and its representative, material Fire, with\nveneration, merely as bright symbols of the sole invisible God. Yet in\nsome of those sacred books which their descendants the _Gabrs_ and Parsis\nattribute to Zeratusht himself (but which we may reasonably suppose were\ncompiled in the third century, from fragments of ancient manuscripts and\nfrom tradition); it seems that trees were invoked as _pure_ and _holy_,\nand that a form of prayer (izeshne) was particularly addressed to\n_Fero\u00fcers_, or spirits of saints through whose influence the trees grew up\nin purity, and which, placed above those trees as on a throne, were\noccupied in blessing them.\n\n\"From want of a more expressive term, I have called the Fero\u00fcers,\n'spirits,' but it is not easy to describe by one word those imaginary\ncreatures; for, at first, they existed singly; were then united to the\nbeings which they represent, forming, as it would seem, part of their very\nsouls; there are Fero\u00fcers of persons not yet born, although properly\nunited only with rational beings, yet they are assigned to water and to\ntrees ('Les saints Fero\u00fcers de l'eau et des arbres.'--Zendav. II., p.\n284). Some are described as females; all are immortal and powerful, but\nbeneficent; pleased with offerings, they protect their votaries, and are\nprompt in carrying off the petitions of those who invoke them to the\nmighty Ormuzd.\n\n\"Here we find the supposed agency of preternatural beings, intermediate\nbetween man and his Creator; and to this I would ascribe an act of the\ngreat Xerxes which is represented as extraordinary and even ridiculous;\nbut of which, in my opinion, the motive has not been rightly understood.\n\n\"To Xerxes I have already alluded as the Persian king, who, almost five\ncenturies before our era, although he may have worshipped God under the\nsymbol of Fire or of the Sun, appears as if willing to propitiate some\ninvisible superhuman power, by offerings suspended from the branches of a\ntree, in which he believed it resident.\n\n\"The anecdote is first related by Herodotus, and in such a manner as\nleaves but little doubt of its authenticity. The fact which it records I\nhope to prove conformable with Persian usage and opinion. But many\ncircumstances are related of Xerxes by the Greek writers, which can\nscarcely be reconciled to probability. Xerxes, according to that venerable\nhistorian above-named, having come from Phrygia into Lydia, arrived at a\nplace where the road branched off, leading on the left towards Caria, on\nthe right to Sardis. Those who travel by this road, says he, must\nnecessarily cross the river M\u00e6nder, and pass the city of Callatebos,\nwherein dwell confectioners, who compose sweetmeats of tamarish-honey and\nwheat. Xerxes, proceeding on this road found a plane tree, which on\naccount of its beauty he decorated with golden ornaments; and leaving to\nguard it one of his troops, called the Immortals, advanced on the next day\nto Sardis, the chief city of the Lydians.\n\n\"This anecdote is related with an amplification of circumstances, and his\nown comments, by \u00c6lian, who ridicules the Persian monarch because, having\nundertaken a very important expedition, he pitched his camp and delayed a\nwhole day in a desert of Lydia, that he might pay homage to a great plane\ntree, on the branches of which he hung rich garments, bracelets, and other\nprecious ornaments; and left a person to guard it, as if the tree had been\na beloved mistress; such is the sum of \u00c6lian's words. He does not impute\nthis act of Xerxes (although it wore a semblance of worship) to any\nreligious or superstitious motive, but to an absurd admiration of the\ntree, an inanimate object, on which from its very nature, says he, neither\nthe gold nor splendid garments, nor the other gifts of that barbarian,\ncould confer any benefit or additional beauty.\n\n\"To the same story \u00c6lian alludes again, in a chapter recording instances\nof strange and ridiculous love; and it is noticed by Eustathius in his\ncommentary on Homer.\n\n\"But these Greek writers could scarcely have suspected the true motive of\nXerxes in this act, since Herodotus, the very historian by whom it was\nfirst related, had described the Persian religion as incompatible with\nwhat would appear a kind of idolatry. Yet the reader has, perhaps, already\nseen enough to convince him that Xerxes, while he affixed his jewels and\ngarments on the plane tree, was engaged in solemn invocation; soliciting,\non the eve of an important military enterprise, the Almighty's favour\nthrough the intercession of some imaginary power.\n\n\"That such is a just interpretation of the circumstance will further\nappear when we consider that it is not merely in case of sickness (though\na very frequent occasion), that the present Muselman Persians (no less\naverse from gross idolatry than their early predecessors) invoke the\nspirits supposed to dwell in certain trees, by hanging on the branches\npieces torn from their garments; but as I have learned from several among\nthem, on every undertaking which they deem of magnitude, such as a\ncommercial or matrimonial speculation, the building of a new house, or a\nlong journey; and as almost six hundred years ago, when Saadi wrote his\nwork above quoted, offerings are daily made by votaries desirous of having\nchildren.\n\n\"On this subject an anecdote was told by a person at _Shiraz_, from whom I\nsought information respecting some trees and bushes covered with old rags,\nin the vale of _Abdui_ and other places. He assured me that before the\narrival of our Embassy at Bushehr, a merchant, lately married to a\nbeautiful girl, but who had not yet given him reason to expect the\nblessing of an heir, was travelling with her, and finding a pleasant spot,\nhalted there awhile, the sun's excessive heat inducing him to seek\nshelter. He perceived at a little distance from the road some ancient\nwalls, among which grew a shady and handsome tree, to this he retired with\nhis young wife, leaving the mules or horses in a servant's care. The tree,\nfrom its situation, had until that time, escaped the notice of most\npassengers, and did not exhibit on its branches even one votive offering,\nbut the merchant, whose fondest wish was to obtain a son, fastened on it a\nshred torn from his clothes, and the united vows of himself and his fair\ncompanion were crowned with success before the expiration of a year. The\ncircumstance being known (although some would, perhaps, think the event\npossible without any preternatural agency), was ascribed to the tree's\nefficacious influence, and within another year the branches were covered\nwith several hundred rags, by as many votaries; not all, however, acting\nfrom the same motive.\"[15]\n\nAs might reasonably be anticipated, the imagination has readily lent\nitself to the development and propagation of the superstitious idea now\nunder consideration, and we find many an ancient bush exalted into a\n_Dirakht-i-fazel_ from the fancied appearance of fire glowing in the midst\nof it, and then suddenly vanishing; this name, as we have already seen,\nimplying according to Chardin, \"the excellent tree,\" and bestowed, as\nseveral travellers have observed, on every bough or tree that exhibits\nvotive offerings, without regard to size or species, age, beauty or\nsituation.\n\n\"Where trees are generally scarce, the votary,\" says Ousley, \"must not be\nfastidious in selection; _Dirakht-i-fazels_ are found near tombs\ncontaining the bodies of supposed saints, or Im\u00e1mz\u00e1dehs, but I have as\nfrequently observed them in desert places where it could not be imagined\nthat they derived any virtue from such sacred relics.\n\n\"As the Persian villagers in their rustic dialect give the name of _f\u00e1zel_\n(still perhaps retaining its sense as the epithet excellent) to certain\npreternatural beings, so _Dirakht-i-fazel_ would express 'the tree of the\ngenii.' This circumstance I learn from a note written at my request, after\nsome conversation on the subject, by Mirza Mohammed Saleh, of Shiraz, a\nvery ingenious and well-informed young man of letters. And that\npreternatural beings were supposed to frequent a certain tree, I learn\nfrom an author of the twelfth century, quoted by Hamdallah Cozvini. He\nrelates that among the wonders of Azerbaijan (or Media) there is at the\nfoot of Mount _Sabalan_, a tree, about which grows much herbage; but\nneither is this nor the fruit of that tree ever eaten by beasts or birds,\nas they dislike it, and to eat of it is to die. This, as tradition\nreports, is the residence of jinn or genii.\"[16]\n\nThe MS. Diet of Berhan Kattea, contains a long passage concerning two\ncypress trees of high celebrity among the Magians, the young plants of\nwhich had been brought, it is said, from Paradise, by Zeratusht or\nZoroaster himself, who in an auspicious hour planted one at _Kashm\u00far_ and\nthe other at _F\u00e1rmad_. After they had flourished one thousand four hundred\nand fifty years, the Arabian _Khalifah_, Motawakel (who reigned in the\nninth century), commanded Taher Ben Abdallah, the governor of Khor\u00e1s\u00e1n, to\ncut them down and send both their trunks and branches to Baghd\u00e1d, near\nwhich city he was constructing a palace. With such veneration were these\nancient cypresses regarded by the Magians, that they offered, but in vain,\nfifty thousand _dinars_ or pieces of gold coin, to save them from the\nfatal axe. At the moment of their fall, an earthquake spread consternation\nthrough the surrounding territory. Such was their immense size, that they\nafforded shade at once to above two thousand cows or oxen and sheep; with\nthe branches alone, thirteen hundred camels were loaded, and in\ntransporting the huge trunks on rollers to Baghdad, five hundred thousand\n_direms_ (pieces of silver coin) were expended. On the very night that\nthey reached the stage next to Motawakel's new edifice, this Kh\u00e1lifah was\nassassinated by his servants.\n\nOusley says--\"The assassination of Motawakel happened on the tenth of\nDecember, in the year of our era 861; and not without a strong suspicion\nthat his own son concurred in the atrocious deed.\"\n\nAncient writings supply an abundance of anecdotes relating to wonderful\ntrees which have flourished at various periods of the world's history, but\nmany of these are so thickly encumbered with matter purely legendary that\nit is often difficult to distinguish the genuine from the apochryphal.\n\nAmong others there is in a Greek manuscript preserved in the library of\nAugsburgh, and quoted by Jacobus Gretser, in his work \"De Sancta Cruce,\"\nan account of an extraordinary triple tree, planted by the patriarch\nAbraham, and existing until the death of Christ--a period of about\nnineteen hundred years.\n\nGreek writers tell of a wild olive which had taken root and grown from the\nclub of Hercules, and Pausanias describes it as existing in the second\ncentury.\n\nThe same writer speaks of a number of other celebrated trees remaining in\nhis own time, including the large and beautiful plane called _Menelais_,\nwhich was planted at Caphya by Menelaus, when engaged in military\npreparations for the siege of Troy, or by his brother Agamemnon, described\nas the \"king of men,\" according to Pliny.\n\nAn instance of tree veneration somewhat similar to that recorded by\nXerxes, already cited, may here be mentioned. According to the historian\nwe are quoting, the consul Parsienus Crispus so loved a certain tree that\nhe was accustomed to kiss and embrace it, to lay himself down under it and\nto besprinkle it with wine. \"The kisses and embraces,\" says Ousley, \"might\nhave authorized \u00c6lian to give the Roman consul a place in his chapter on\nstrange and ridiculous loves. But to recline under the shade of a\nbeautiful tree seems perfectly natural; and, perhaps, we may discover in\nthe libation or affusion with wine, something of a religious ceremony, for\nit appears that the tree stood in an ancient grove consecrated to Diana,\nand we know that wine was sprinkled on trees in the early ages, as still\nin some parts of France.\"\n\nNear Cairo, at a fountain wherein the Virgin Mary washed her infant's\nclothes, a lamp was, three centuries ago, kept burning to her honour in\nthe hollow of an old fig tree, which had served them as a place of\nshelter, according to the \"Itinerario de Antonio Tenreio;\" and Maundrell,\nwho travelled in 1697, saw between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, the famous\nturpentine tree, in the shade of which the blessed Virgin is said to have\nreposed when she was carrying Christ in her arms.\n\nIn the time of Hamdallah Cazvini (fourteenth century), a dry or withered\ntree distinguished the grave of a holy man at _Bastam_; this tree had once\nbeen (they say) Mohammed's staff, and was transmitted through many\ngenerations, until finally deposited in the grave of Abu Abdallah\nDasitani, where it took root and put forth branches, like the club of\nHercules. Those who injured this sacred tree perished on the same day.\n\nIn the time of Plutarch, an aged tree still bore the title of \"Alexander's\nOak,\" and marked a spot rendered memorable by one of that hero's exploits.\nIt stood near the river Cephisus, and not far from the burial-place of\nmany valiant Macedonians. How old this tree may have been during\nAlexander's youth, does not appear; but it grew near Cheron\u00e6a where he\nsignalised himself in battle 337 years before Christ; and Plutarch died\n119 years after Christ. It may, however, have existed to a much later\nperiod.\n\nIn Africa, the modern Muselmans and Pagans seem equally inclined to\ndistinguish particular trees as sacred objects. Every tribe of the Galla\nnation, in Abysinnia, worship avowedly as a god, the Wanzey tree. Mr. Salt\nconfirms this statement of Bruce, using similar language. Mungo Park\nmentions the Neema Tuba, a large tree decorated with innumerable rags or\nscraps of cloth--\"a tree which nobody presumed to pass without hanging up\nsomething.\"\n\nBarbot informs us that the inhabitants of Southern Guinea make offerings\nand pray to trees, more especially in time of sickness; from an\nexpectation of thereby recovering their health.\n\nColonel Keatinge, in his \"Travels in Europe and Africa,\" speaks of a\nresemblance or identity between the _Argali_ (wild olive) and the _Arayel_\nor the sacred tree of the Hindus; and he noticed the offerings strung upon\nthose _Argali_, \"rags, potsherds, and the like trash.\" Why such things\nwere offered, or the origin of such a custom, no person attempts to\nexplain, but he observes, \"a traveller will see precisely the like in the\nwest of Ireland, and will receive an equally satisfactory account upon the\nsubject.\"\n\nA multiplicity of extracts might be quoted to prove how long this\nsuperstition lingered among various nations of Europe, besides the Irish.\nWe need scarcely premise that it was widely diffused in pagan times\nthroughout those nations. We have already seen it among the Greeks and\nRomans. It flourished among the ancient Germans, as Tacitus and Agathias\ninform us; among the Scandinavians also, and different tribes of the\nnorth, according to their _Edda_ and other works. The Druids of the Celts,\nGauls and Britons of course afford familiar examples. But after the\nintroduction of Christianity we find the worship of trees condemned, as a\npractice still existing, by the councils of Auxerre, of Nantes, and of\nTours. It was also strongly forbidden by the laws of Canute, as may be\nseen in Wilkins's \"Leg. Ang. Sax.\"\n\nMany anecdotes are recorded, says Ousley, of holy men who exerted\nthemselves in efforts to abolish the superstition. Thus we read in the\nHistory of Saint Valeri, that this pious abbot, having discovered the\ntrunk of a large tree which the rustics zealously worshipped with pagan\ndevotion, immediately directed that it should be destroyed.\nNotwithstanding such laudable exertions, we learn from Ditmar, an author\nof the eleventh century, that in his time the people of Ridegast, in\nMecklenbourgh, revered a certain gloomy forest and were afraid to touch\nthe trees of which it was composed.\n\nLeonard Rubenus, late in the sixteenth century, found Livonia still\ninfected with the idolatrous veneration of trees; for passing through the\nsacred woods of the Esthonians, he perceived an immense pine, which the\nneighbouring people adored, loading its branches with pieces of old cloth,\nand expecting that any injury offered to it would be attended with some\nmiraculous punishment. Rubenus, however, tells us that he cut on this pine\nthe figure of a cross, and, lest the superstition should be thereby\naugmented, he afterwards marked on it the form of a gibbet, in contempt\nfor the tree, regarded by those rustics as their god.\n\nAt a much later period this kind of idolatry existed among the same\npeople. Abel Burja, who visited them in 1777, mentions their sacred trees,\nand relates an anecdote which he heard at Petersburgh from a priest of\nFinland, whose father had likewise exercised the sacerdotal office in that\ncountry, where his parishioners had long honoured a certain tree with\nreligious homage. This worthy pastor, having excited the good humour of\nthose peasants, whom he treated with brandy, exhorted them to cut down the\nobject of their superstitious worship, but they refused to touch it,\nfearing that on the first application of an axe they should be destroyed\nby thunderbolt. Their pastor, however, struck it with impunity; encouraged\nby the brandy, they followed his example, and soon prostrated the ancient\ntree.[17]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n    _The Bogaha of Ceylon, or God Trees--The Maha Wanse and the\n    Bo-Tree--Ceremonies connected with the Transplantation of the\n    Bo-Tree--Planting the Great Bo-Branch--Miracles of the Bo-Tree--The\n    State Elephant--The Pipal Tree._\n\n\nCeylon had its _Bogaha_, or \"God Tree,\" and when Sir William Ousley was in\nthat country in 1810, he was presented with a number of pieces of the wood\nfound in its forests, among the collection were samples of the _Bogaha_\ntree, venerated, he says, by the natives as sacred. A note from Knox's\n\"Historical Relation of the Island of Ceylon,\" says--\"I shall mention but\none tree more, as famous and highly set by as any of the rest, if not\nmore, though it bears no fruit, the benefit consisting chiefly in the\nholiness of it. This tree they call Bogauhah; we, the God Tree. It is very\ngreat and spreading; the leaves always shake like an asp. They have a\ngreat veneration for these trees, worshipping them upon a tradition that\nBuddou, a great god among them, when he was upon the earth, did use to sit\nunder this kind of trees. There are many of these trees, which they plant\nall the land over, and have more care of than of any other. They pave\nround about them like a key, sweep often under them to keep them clean;\nthey light lamps and set up their images under them, and a stone table is\nlaid under some of them to lay their sacrifices on; they set them\neverywhere in towns and highways, where any convenient places are; they\nserve also for shade to travellers; they will also set them in memorial of\npersons deceased, to wit, there where their bodies were burnt. It is\nreligion also to sweep under the Bogauhah, or God Tree, and keep it clean.\nIt is held meritorious to plant them, which, they say, he that does shall\ndie within a short time after and go to heaven. But the oldest men only\nthat are nearest death in the course of nature do plant them, and none\nelse, the younger sort desiring to live a little longer in this world\nbefore they go to the other.\"\n\nThe Maha Wanse, the principal native historical record in Ceylon,\nsupplies a great deal of interesting information respecting the sacred\ntrees of that country, notably of the Bo-Tree. Chapter 18, as translated\nfrom the Pali by the Hon. George Turnour, is particularly important. \"The\nruler of the land, meditating in his own palace on the proposition of the\nthero, of bringing over the great Bo-Tree as well as the theri\nSanghamitta; on a certain day, within the term of that 'wasso,' seated by\nthe thero, and having consulted his ministers, he himself sent for and\nadvised with his maternal nephew, the minister Aritho. Having selected him\nfor that mission, the king addressed this question to him: 'My child, art\nthou willing, repairing to the court of Dhammasoko, to escort hither the\ngreat Bo-Tree and the theri Sanghamitta?' 'Gracious lord, I am willing to\nbring these from thence hither, provided on my return to this land, I am\npermitted to enter into the priesthood.' The monarch replying, 'Be it so,'\ndeputed him thither. He, conforming to the injunction both of the thero\nand of the sovereign, respectfully took his leave. The individual so\ndelegated, departing on the second day of the increasing moon of the month\n'assayujo,' embarked at Jambokolapattana.\"\n\n\"Having departed, under the (divine) injunction of the thero, traversing\nthe ocean, he reached the delightful city of Puppa on the very day of his\ndeparture.\n\n\"The princess Anula, together with five hundred virgins, and also with\nfive hundred of the women of the palace, having conformed to the pious\nobservances of the 'dasasil' order, clad in yellow garments, and\nstrenuously endeavouring to attain the superior grades of the\nsanctification, is looking forward to the arrival of the theri to enter\ninto the priesthood; leading a devotional life of piety in a delightful\nsacerdotal residence, provided (for them) by the king, in a certain\nquarter of the city which had previously been the domicile of the minister\nDono. The residence occupied by such pious devotees has become from that\ncircumstance, celebrated in Lanka by the name 'Upasaka.' Thus spoke\nMaharittho, the nephew (of Dewananpiyatisso), announcing the message of\nthe king, as well as of the thero, to Dhammasoko; and added, 'Sovereign of\nelephants! the consort of thy ally the king (of Lanka), impelled by the\ndesire of devoting herself to the ministry of Buddho, is unremittingly\nleading the life of a pious devotee, for the purpose of ordaining her a\npriestess, deputing thither the theri Sanghamitta, send also with her the\nright branch of the great Bo-Tree.'\n\n\"He next explained to the theri herself the intent of the message of the\nthero (her brother Mahindo). The said theri, obtaining an audience of her\nfather, communicated to him the message of the thero. The monarch replied\n(addressing her at once reverentially and affectionately), 'My mother!\nbereaved of thee, and separated from my children and grandchildren, what\nconsolation will there be left wherewith to alleviate my affliction?' She\nrejoined, 'Maharaja, the injunction of my brother (Mahindo) is imperative;\nand those who are to be ordained are many; on that account it is meet that\nI should repair thither.'\n\n\"The king (thereupon) thus meditated--'The great Bo-Tree is rooted to the\nearth; it cannot be meet to lop it with any weapon: by what means then can\nI obtain a branch thereof?' This lord of the land, by the advice of the\nminister Mahadevo, having invited the priesthood to a repast, thus\ninquired (of the high-priest): 'Lord, is it meet to transmit (a branch of)\nthe great Bo-Tree to Lanka?' The chief-priest, the son of Moggali,\nreplied: 'It is fitting it should be sent;' and propounded to the monarch\nthe five important resolves of (Buddho) the deity gifted with five means\nof perception. The lord of the land, hearing this reply, rejoicing\nthereat, ordered the road to the Bo-Tree, distant (from Patalipatto) seven\nyojanas, to be swept, and perfectly decorated in every respect; and for\nthe purpose of having the vase made, collected gold. Wissakammo himself\nassuming the character of a jeweller, and repairing thither, enquired 'of\nwhat size shall I construct the vase?' On being told--'make it, deciding\non the size thyself'--receiving the gold, he moulded it (exclusively) with\nhis own hand, and instantly perfecting that vase, nine cubits in\ncircumference, five cubits in depth, three cubits in diameter, eight\ninches in thickness, and in the rim of the mouth of the thickness of the\ntrunk of a full-grown elephant, he departed.\n\n\"The monarch causing that vase, resplendent like the meridian sun, to be\nbrought, attended by the four constituent hosts of his military array, and\nby the great body of the priesthood, which extended over five yojanas in\nlength and three in breadth, repaired to the great Bo-Tree, which was\ndecorated with every variety of ornament; glittering with the variegated\nsplendour of gems; decked with rows of streaming banners; laden with\nofferings of flowers of every hue; and surrounded by the sound of every\ndescription of music; encircling it with this concourse of people, he\nscreened (the Bo-Tree) with a curtain. A body of a thousand priests, with\nthe chief thero (son of Maggali) at their head, having (by forming an\ninner circle) enclosed the sovereign himself as well as the great Bo-Tree\nmost completely; with uplifted clasped hands (Dhammasako) gazed on the\ngreat Bo-Tree.\n\n\"While thus gazing (on the Bo-Tree) a portion thereof, being four cubits\nof the branch, remained visible, and the other branches vanished. Seeing\nthis miracle, the ruler of the world, overjoyed, exclaimed, 'I make an\noffering of my empire to the great Bo-Tree.' The lord of the land\n(thereupon) invested the great Bo-Tree with the empire. Making flower and\nother offerings to the great Bo-Tree, he walked round it. Having bowed\ndown, with uplifted hands, at eight places; and placed that precious vase\non a golden chair, studded with various gems, of such a height that the\nbranch could be easily reached, he ascended it himself for the purpose of\nobtaining the supreme branch. Using vermillion in a golden pencil, and\ntherewith making a streak on the branch, he pronounced this confession of\nhis faith. 'If this supreme right Bo branch detached from this Bo-Tree is\ndestined to depart from hence to the land of Lanka, let it, self-severed,\ninstantly transplant itself into the vase: then, indeed, I shall have\nimplicit faith in the religion of Buddho.'\n\n\"The Bo branch severing itself at the place where the streak was made,\nhovered over the mouth of the vase (which was) filled with scented soil.\n\n\"The monarch then encircled the branch with (two) streaks above the\noriginal streak, at intervals of three inches: from the original streak,\nthe principal, and from the other streaks, minor roots, ten from each,\nshooting forth and brilliant, from their freshness, descended (into the\nsoil in the vase). The sovereign on witnessing this miracle (with uplifted\nhands) set up a shout, while yet standing on the golden chair, which was\nechoed by the surrounding spectators. The delighted priesthood expressed\ntheir joy by shouts of 'Sadhu,' and the crowding multitude, waving\nthousands of cloths over their heads, cheered.\n\n\"Thus this (branch of the) great Bo-Tree established itself in the\nfragrant soil (in the vase) with a hundred roots, filling with delight the\nwhole attendant multitude. The stem thereof was ten cubits high: there\nwere five branches, each four cubits long, adorned with five fruits each.\nFrom the (five main) branches many lateral branches amounting to a\nthousand were formed. Such was this miraculous and delightful-creating\nBo-Tree.\n\n\"The instant the great Bo branch was planted in the vase, the earth\nquaked, and numerous miracles were performed. By the din of the separately\nheard sound of various musical instruments--by the 'Sadhus' shouted, as\nwell by devos and men of the human world, as by the host of devos and\nbrahmas of the heavens--by the howling of the elements, the roar of\nanimals, the screeches of birds, and the yells of the yakkhas, as well as\nother fierce spirits, together with the crashing concussions of the\nearthquake, they constituted an universal chaotic uproar.\n\n\"From the fruits and leaves of the Bo branch, brilliant rags of the six\nprimitive colours issuing forth, illuminated the whole 'chakkawalan.' Then\nthe great Bo branch, together with its vase, springing up into the air\n(from the golden chair), remained invisible for seven days in the snowy\nregions of the skies.\n\n\"The monarch descending from the chair, and tarrying on that spot for\nthose seven days, unremittingly kept up in the fullest formality, a\nfestival of offerings to the Bo branch. At the termination of the seventh\nday, the spirits which preside over elements (dispelling the snowy\nclouds), the beams of the moon enveloped the great Bo branch.\n\n\"The enchanting great Bo branch, together with the vase, remaining poised\nin the firmament, displayed itself to the whole multitude. Having\nastounded the congregation by the performance of many miracles, the great\nBo branch descended to the earth.\n\n\"The great monarch, overjoyed at these various miracles, a second time\nmade an offering of the empire to the great Bo. Having thus invested the\ngreat Bo with the whole empire, making innumerable offerings, he tarried\nthere for seven days longer.\n\n\"On the fifteenth being the full moon day of the bright half of the month\nassayujo (the king) took possession of the great Bo branch. At the end of\ntwo weeks from that date, being the fourteenth day of the dark half of the\nmonth assayujo, the lord of chariots, having had his capital fully\nornamented and a superb hall built, placing the great Bo branch in a\nchariot, on that very day brought it in a procession of offering (to the\ncapital).\n\n\"On the first day of the bright half of the month 'Kattiko,' having\ndeposited the great Bo branch under the great Sal tree in the south-east\nquarter (of Patilaputto) he daily made innumerable offerings thereunto.\n\n\"On the seventeenth day after he had received charge of it, its new leaves\nsprouted forth simultaneously. From that circumstance also the monarch,\noverjoyed, a third time dedicated the empire to the great Bo-Tree.\n\n\"The ruler of men, having thus finally invested the great Bo branch with\nthe whole empire, made various offerings to the said tree.\n\n\"The lord of chariots assigned for the custody of the Bo branch, eighteen\npersonages of royal blood, eighteen members of noble families, eight of\nthe Brahman caste, and eight of the Settha caste. In like manner eight of\neach of the agricultural and domestic castes, as well as of weavers and\npotters, and of all other castes: as also Nagas and Yakkos. This delight\nin donations, bestowing vases of gold and silver, eight of each (to water\nthe Bo branch with), embarking the great Bo branch in a superbly decorated\nvessel on the river (Ganges), and embarking likewise the high-priestess\nSanghamitta with her eleven priestesses, and the ambassador, Arittho at\nthe head (of his mission); (the monarch) departing out of his capital, and\npreceding (the river procession with his army) through the wilderness of\nWinjha, reached Tamalitta on the seventh day. The devas and men (during\nhis land progress) kept up splendid festivals of offerings (on the river),\nand also reached (the port of embarkation) on the seventh day.\n\n\"The sovereign disembarking the Bo branch on the shore of the main ocean,\nagain made an offering of his empire. This delighter of good works having\nthus finally invested the great Bo branch with the whole empire, on the\nfirst day of the bright half of the moon in the month of 'Maggasiro;'\nthereupon he (gave direction) that the great Bo branch which was deposited\n(at the foot of the Sal tree) should be lifted up by the aforesaid four\nhigh caste tribes (assisted) by the other eight persons of each of the\nother castes. The elevation of the Bo branch having been effected by their\nmeans (the monarch) himself descending there (unto the sea) till the water\nreached his neck, most carefully deposited it in the vessel.\n\n\"Having thus completed the embarkation of it, as well as of the chief\ntheri with her priestesses, and the illustrious ambassador Maharittho, he\nmade this address to them:--'I have on three occasions dedicated my empire\nto this great Bo branch; in like manner let my ally, your sovereign, as\nfully make (to it) an investiture of his empire.'\n\n\"The maharaja, having thus spoken, stood on the shore of the ocean with\nuplifted hands; and gazing on the departing Bo branch, shed tears in the\nbitterness of his grief. In the agony of parting with the Bo branch, the\ndisconsolate Dhammasoko, weeping and lamenting in loud sobs, departed for\nhis own capital.\n\n\"The vessel in which the Bo-Tree was embarked, briskly dashed through the\nwater; and in the great ocean, within the circumference of a yojana, the\nwaves were stilled: flowers of the five different colours blossomed around\nit, and various melodies of music rung in the air. Innumerable offerings\nwere kept up by innumerable devas; (but) the nagas had recourse to their\nmagical arts to obtain possession of the Bo-Tree. The chief-priestess,\nSanghammitta, who had attained the sanctification of 'abhinna,' assuming\nthe form of the 'supanna,' terrified those nagas (from their purpose).\nThese subdued nagas, respectfully imploring of the chief-priestess (with\nher consent) conveyed the Bo-Tree to the settlement of the nagas: and for\nseven days innumerable offerings having been made by the naga king, they\nthemselves, bringing it back, replaced it in the vessel. On the same day\nthat the Bo-Tree reached this land at the port of Jambukolo, the\nuniversally beloved monarch Dewananpiyatisso, having by his communications\nwith Sumano Samanero, ascertained the (approaching) advent (of the Bo\nbranch); and from the first day of the month of 'maggasiro,' in his\nanxiety to prepare for its reception, having, with the greatest zeal,\napplied himself to the decoration of the high road from the northern gate\n(of Anuradhapura) to Jambukolo, had (already) repaired thither.\n\n\"While seated in a hall on the sea-beach, by the miraculous powers of the\nthero (Mahindo), he was enabled to discern (though still out of sight) the\nBo branch which was approaching over the great ocean. In order that the\nhall built on that spot might perpetuate the fame of that miracle, it\nbecame celebrated there by the name of the 'Sammudasanna-sala.' Under the\nauspices of the chief thero, attended by the other theros, as well as the\nimperial array of his kingdom, on that very day, the nobly formed\nmaharaja, chanting forth in his zeal and fervour, 'This is the Bo from the\nBo-Tree (at which Buddho attained buddhohood),' rushing into the waves up\nto his neck, and causing the great Bo branch to be lifted up collectively\nby the sixteen castes of persons on their heads, and lowering it down,\ndeposited it in the superb hall built on the beach. The sovereign of Lanka\ninvested it with the kingdom of Lanka; and unto these sixteen castes,\nsurrendering his sovereign authority, this ruler of men, taking upon\nhimself the office of sentinel at the gate (of the hall), for three entire\ndays in the discharge of this duty, made innumerable offerings.\n\n\"On the tenth day of the month, elevating and placing the Bo branch in a\nsuperb car, this sovereign, who had by inquiry ascertained the consecrated\nplaces, exhorting the monarch of the forest, deposited it at the Pachina\nwiharo; and entertained the priesthood as well as the people, with their\nmorning meal. There (at the spot visited at Buddha's second advent) the\nchief thero Mahindo narrated, without the slightest omission, to his\nmonarch, the triumph obtained over the nagas (during the voyage of the Bo\nbranch) by the deity gifted with the ten powers. Having ascertained from\nthe thero the particular spots on which the divine teacher had rested or\ntaken refreshment, those several spots he marked with monuments.\n\n\"The sovereign stopping the progress of the Bo branch at the entrance of\nthe village of the Brahma Tiwako, as well as at the several aforesaid\nplaces, (each of which) was sprinkled with white sand, and decorated with\nevery variety of flowers, with the road (approaching to each) lined with\nbanners and garlands of flowers:--and keeping up offerings, by night and\nby day uninteruptedly, on the fourteenth day he conducted it to the\nvicinity of Anuradhapura. At the hour that shadows are most extended, he\nentered the superbly decorated capital by the northern gate, in the act of\nmaking offerings; and passing in procession out of the southern gate, and\nentering the Mahamego garden hallowed by the presence of the Buddhas (of\nthis kappo); and arriving under the directions of Sumano himself, at the\ndelightful and decorated spot at which the former Bo-Trees had been\nplanted;--by means of the sixteen princes who were adorned with all the\ninsignia of royalty (which they assumed on the king surrendering the\nsovereignity to them), raising up the Bo branch, he contributed his\npersonal exertion to deposit it there.\n\n\"The instant it extricated itself from the hand of man, springing eighty\ncubits up into the air, self poised and resplendent, it cast forth a halo\nof rays of six colours. These enchanting rays illuminating the land,\nascended to the Brahma heavens, and continued (visible) till the setting\nof the sun. Ten thousand men, stimulated by the sight of these miracles,\nincreasing in santification, and attaining the state of 'arabat,'\nconsequently entered into the priesthood.\n\n\"Afterwards, at the setting of the sun, the Bo branch descending, under\nthe constellation 'rohani,' placed itself on the ground, and the earth\nthereupon quaked. Those roots (before described) rising up out of the\nmouth of the vase, and shooting downwards, descended (forcing down) the\nvase itself into the ground. The whole assembled populace made flower and\nother offerings to the planted Bo. A heavy deluge of rain fell around,\ndense cold clouds completely enveloped the great Bo in its snowy womb. In\nseven days the Bo-Tree remained there, invisible in the snowy womb,\noccasioning (renewed) delight in the populace. At the termination of the\nseventh day, all these clouds dispersed, and displayed the Bo Tree, and\nits halo of six coloured rays.\n\n\"The chief thero Mahindo and Sanghmitta, each together with their retinue,\nas well as his majesty with his suite, assembled there. The princes from\nChandanaggamo, the Brahma, Tiwako, as also the whole population of the\nland, by the interposition of the devas, exerting themselves to perform a\ngreat festival of offerings (in honour) of the Bo Tree, assembled there;\nand at this great congregation, they were astounded at the miracles which\nwere performed.\n\n\"On the south-eastern branch a fruit manifested itself, and ripened in the\nutmost perfection. The thero taking up that fruit as it fell, gave it to\nthe king to plant it. The monarch planted it in a golden vase, filled with\nodoriferous soil, which was prepared by the Mohasano. While they were all\nstill gazing at it, eight sprouting shoots were produced, and became\nvigorous plants four cubits high each. The king, seeing these vigorous\nBo-Trees, delighted with astonishment, made an offering of, and invested\nthem with, his white canopy (of sovereignty).\n\n\"Of these eight he planted (one) at Jambukolopatana, on the spot where the\nBo-Tree was deposited on its disembarkation; one at the village of the\nBrahma Tiwako; at the Thuporamo; at the Issarasamanako wiharo; at the\nPattama Chetiyo; likewise at the Chetiyo mountain wiharo; and at\nKachharagoms, as also at Chandanagamo (both villages in the Rohona\ndivision); one Bo plant at each. These bearing four fruits, two each,\n(produced) thirty Bo plants, which planted themselves at the several\nplaces, each distant a yojano in circumference from the sovereign Bo-Tree,\nby the providential interposition of the supreme Buddha, for the spiritual\nhappiness of the inhabitants of the land.\n\n\"The aforesaid Anula, together with her retinue of five hundred virgins,\nand five hundred women of the palace, entering into the order of\npriesthood in the community of the theri Sanghamitta, attained the\nsanctification of 'arahat.' Arittho, together with a retinue of five\nhundred personages of royal extraction, obtaining priestly ordination in\nthe fraternity of the also thero, attained 'arahat.' Whoever the eight\npersons of the setti caste were who escorted the Bo-Tree hither, they,\nfrom that circumstance, obtained the name of bhodahara (bo-bearers).\n\n\"The theri Sanghamitta together with her community of priestesses\nsojourned in the quarter of the priestesses, which obtained the name of\nthe 'Upasaka wiharo.'\n\n\"There at the residence of Anula, before she entered into the priesthood\n(the king) formed twelve apartments, three of which were the principal\nones. In one of these great apartments (called the Chulangono) he\ndeposited the (Kupayatthikan) mast of the vessel which transported the\ngreat Bo; in another (called Mahaangano) an oar (piyam); in the third\n(called the Siriwaddho, the arittan) rudder. From these (appurtenances of\nthe ship) these (appartments) were known (as the Kupayatthitapanagara).\n\n\"Even during the various schisms (which prevailed at subsequent periods)\nthe Hatthalaka priestess uninterruptedly maintained their position at the\nestablishment of twelve apartments. The before-mentioned state elephant of\nthe king, roaming at his will, placed himself at a cool stream in a\ncertain quarter of the city, in a grove of kadambo-trees, and remained\nbrowsing there: ascertaining the preference given by the elephant to the\nspot, they gave it the name of 'Hattalakan.'\n\n\"On a certain day this elephant refused his food; the king enquired the\ncause thereof of the thero, the dispenser of happiness in the land. The\nchief thero, replying to the monarch, thus spoke: '(the elephant) is\ndesirous that the thupo should be built in the kadambo grove.' The\nsovereign, who always gratified the desires of his subjects, without loss\nof time built there a thupo, enshrining a relic therein, and built an\nedifice over the thupo.\n\n\"The chief theri, Sanghamitta, being desirous of leading a life of\ndevotional seclusion, and the situation of her sacerdotal residence not\nbeing sufficiently retired for the advancement of the cause of religion\nand for the spiritual comfort of the priestesses, she was seeking another\nnunnery. Actuated by these pious motives, repairing to the aforesaid\ndelightful and charmingly secluded thupo edifice, this personage\nsanctified in mind and exalted by her doctrinal knowledge, enjoyed there\nthe rest of noonday.\n\n\"The king repaired to the temple of the priestesses to pay his respects to\nthe theri, and learning whither she had gone, he also proceeded thither,\nand reverentially bowed down to her. The maharaja Dewananpiyatisso, who\ncould distinctly divine the thoughts of others, having graciously\nconsulted her, inquired the object of her coming there, and having fully\nascertained her wishes, erected around the thupo a charming residence for\nthe priestesses. This nunnery being constructed near the Hatthalaka hall,\nhence became known as the 'Hatthalaka wiharo.' The chief theri\nSanghamitta, surnamed Sumitta, from her being the benefactress of the\nworld, endowed with divine wisdom, sojourned there in that delightful\nresidence of priestesses.\n\n\"Thus, this (Bo-Tree) monarch of the forest, endowed with miraculous\npowers, has stood for ages in the delightful Mahamego garden in the Linka,\npromoting the spiritual welfare of the inhabitants of Lanka, and the\npropagation of the true religion.\"\n\nNo trees, perhaps, are held in greater veneration in India, than the\n_Ficus Religiosa_ or pipal tree. It is known as Rarvasit, the tree of\nknowledge and wisdom, the holy \"Bo-Tree\" of the lamas of Thibet. Balfour's\n\"Indian Cyclop\u00e6dia\" says--\"This large handsome tree grows in most of the\ncountries of Asia, and is frequently to be met with near pagodas, houses\nand other buildings. One at Gyaine, South Behar, is said to have been that\nbeneath which Sakya was reposing when his views as to his duties became\nclear to him, and if so, is more than 2,400 years old. It is also held in\nveneration by the Hindus, because the god Vishnu is fabled to have been\nborn under its branches. In the Somavati festival, the Mahratta women\ncircumambulate a pipal tree, and place offerings on it, when the new moon\nfalls on a Monday. The pipal tree is preferable for avenues to the banyan.\nThe leaves are heart-shaped, long, pointed, wavy at the edge, not unlike\nthose of some poplars, and as the footstalks are long and slender, the\nleaves vibrate in the air like those of the aspen tree. Silkworms prefer\nthe leaves next to those of the mulberry. The roots are destructive to\nbuildings, for if once they establish themselves among the crevices, there\nis no getting rid of them.\"\n\n\"It is the most sacred of trees with the Buddhists, who say it was under\nthis tree that Gautama slept, and dreamed that his bed was the whole\nearth, and the Himalaya mountains his pillow, while his left arm reached\nto the Eastern Ocean, his right to the Western Ocean, and his feet to the\ngreat South Sea. This dream he interpreted to mean that he would soon\nbecome a Buddha. A branch of the tree was sent to Ceylon in the year 250\nB.C., by Asoka--to the city of Amuradhapoora--together with\ncertain relics of Gautama: his collar-bone, begging-dish, &c.; and it\nflourishes there as the Bo-Tree. For upwards of twenty centuries it had\nbeen an object of the profoundest veneration to the people, and\nparticularly to the pilgrims in their annual visits to the ruins of the\ncity.\"\n\nFergusson says--\"Whatever may be the result of the investigation into the\nSerpent Worship of Ceylon, there is no doubt whatever about the prevalence\nand importance of Tree Worship in that island. The legend of the planting\nof the R\u00e2j\u00e2yatana Tree by Buddha has already been alluded to, but the\nhistory of the transference of a branch of the Bo-Tree, from Buddh-gaya to\nAnur\u00e2dnapury, is as authentic and as important as any event recorded in\nthe Ceylonese annals. Sent by As\u00f3ka (250 B.C.), it was received with the\nutmost reverence by Devanampiyatisso, and planted in a most conspicuous\nspot in the centre of his capital. There it has been reverenced as the\nmost important 'numen' of Ceylon for more than 2,000 years, and it, or its\nlineal descendant, sprung at least from the old root, is there worshipped\nat this hour. The city is in ruins; its great dagobas have fallen to\ndecay; its monasteries have disappeared; but the great Bo-Tree still\nflourishes according to the legend--'Ever green, never growing or\ndecreasing, but still living on for ever for the delight and worship of\nmankind.' Annually thousands repair to the sacred precincts within which\nit stands, to do it honour, and to offer up those prayers for health and\nprosperity which they believe are more likely to be answered if uttered in\nits presence. There is probably no older idol in the world, certainly none\nmore venerated.\"\n\nStories illustrating the peculiar reverence with which this tree is\nregarded are tolerably plentiful, and but for the limitations of our\nspace, might be almost indefinitely multiplied. A writer in _Notes and\nQueries_ relates that an old woman in the neighbourhood of Benares, was\nobserved walking round and round a certain peepul-tree. At every round she\nsprinkled a few drops of water from the water vessel in her hand on the\nsmall offering of flowers she had laid beneath the tree. A bystander who\nwas questioned as to this ceremony, replied--\"This is a sacred tree; the\ngood spirits live up amidst its branches, and the old woman is worshipping\nthem.\"\n\nThen some half-a-dozen years ago, when Mr. Barnum, the showman, of\nAmerica, was completing the purchase of a certain white elephant, it was\nnarrated in an Indian paper, that under the terms of sale, the purchaser\nwas required to swear by the holy and sacred Bo-Tree that the animal\nshould receive every kindness and consideration.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n    _Sacred Trees very ancient in Egypt--Hebrew Trees--The Sycamore at\n    Matarea--Ionic forms--The Koran on Mary and the Palm Tree--Sacredness\n    of the Palm in Egypt--Tree Worship in Dahome--The sacred tree of the\n    Canary Isles._\n\n\n\"Among the Egyptians, from the earliest period of their monumental history\nto the latest, we find represented on tombs and st\u00e8ts the figure of a\nsacred tree, from which departed souls in human form, receive the\nnourishment of everlasting life.\n\n\"The monuments of the ancient Assyrians also show a sacred tree symbolical\nof the divine influence of the life-giving deity. So also do those of the\nancient Persians, and it was preserved by them, almost as represented on\nthe Assyrian monuments, until the invasion of the Arabs.\n\n\"The Hebrews had a sacred tree which figured in their temple architecture\nalong with the cherubim; it was the same sort of tree as that which had\npreviously been in use among the Egyptians, and was subsequently, in a\nconventional form, adopted by the Assyrians and Persians, and eventually\nby the Christians, who introduced it in the mosaics of their early\nchurches associated with their most sacred rites. This tree, which occurs\nalso as a religious symbol on Etruscan remains, and was abbreviated by the\nGreeks into a familiar ornament of their temple architecture, was the date\npalm, _Phoenix dactylifera_.\n\n\"But although the earliest known form of the Tree of Life on Egyptian\nmonuments is the date palm, at a later period the sycamore fig tree was\nrepresented instead, and eventually even this disappeared in some\ninstances and a female personification came in its place.\n\n\"Besides the monumental evidence thus furnished of a sacred tree, a Tree\nof Life, there is historical and traditional evidence of the same thing,\nfound in the early literature of various nations, in their customs and\npopular usages.\"[18]\n\nThe sycamore at Matarea in Egypt is still shown, which miraculously opened\nionically to receive and reproduce the persecuted virgin when avoiding the\ncruelty of Herod.\n\nMoor, the author of \"Oriental Fragments,\" while noting that it does not\nappear that the sycamore was especially a mystical tree among any ancient\npeople, and that he does not see anything mystical or peculiar in it,\nsays:--\"but here may be traced another link connecting through distant\ncountries the chain of mystery in this line of thought--that is, of the\nmysticism of clefts or ionic forms and transit and trees. Those beautiful\nand interesting objects of producing and reproducing nature connect\nthemselves, in the mystic contemplative eye, with all that is beautiful\nand interesting, and poetical and profound. They point up to the heavens,\nthey strike down to Tartarus, but are still of earth:--a Brahmanal triad\nexpressed by the Sanscrit word _bhurbhuvaswah_--heaven, earth, sky--a\nvastly profound trisyllabic-mono-verbal-mythos; holding, like the mighty\nAum, or Om, in mystic combination, the elementals of Brahma, Vishnu and\nSiva.\"\n\nThe commendable delicacy, generally speaking of Mohammedans, and the\nprosaic nature of their religion, forbid sexual allusions in their\nwritings, and without impugning their fastidiousness on that point--not\nindeed always observable even in the _Koran_--we find there, and in the\ncommentaries, a connection of birth and tree not very unlike what has been\ntold or shadowed respecting Juno Samia, or Latona, and the Hindu Samia.\n\nIn the nineteenth _Sura_ or chapter of the _Koran_ entitled \"Mary,\" much\nconcerning the miraculous conception occurs. Having praised St. John, as a\n\"devout person, and dutiful towards his parents; not proud or rebellious,\"\nand invoked a blessing on him in these words: \"Peace be on him, the day\nwhereon he was born, and the day whereon he shall die, and the day whereon\nhe shall be raised to life;\" the prophet continues: \"And remember the\nstory of Mary when the pains of child-birth came upon her near the trunk\nof a palm tree.\" \"A withered trunk,\" adds a commentator, \"without any head\nor verdure; notwithstanding which, though in the winter season, it\nmiraculously supplied her with fruits for her nourishment.\" \"And he who\nwas beneath her,\" continues the Koran, \"called to her saying, shake the\npalm tree, and it shall let fall ripe dates upon thee ready gathered.\"\n\nCommentators differ as to whether it was the infant or the angel Gabriel\nwho so called to the mother. They say \"the dry trunk revived and shot\nforth green leaves, and a head laden with ripe fruit.\"\n\nThe note in Sale's translation says: \"It has been observed that the\nMohammedan account of the delivery of the Virgin Mary very much resembles\nthat of Latona, as described by the poets, not only in this circumstance\nof their laying hold on a palm-tree (though some say Latona embraced an\nolive-tree, or an olive and a palm, or else two laurels), but also in that\nof their infants speaking.\"\n\nAmongst the trees held sacred in Egypt, the palm ranked highest; and for\nthis reason, that species of tree was most frequently used in the sacred\nbuildings of that country, as indeed they afterwards were in those of the\nHebrews, not perhaps for the same cause: for that was connected with the\nSabian idolatries, which the latter were taught to detest. The real source\nof the veneration of the former for palm trees, and of the general\ncultivation of that plant in Egypt, which abounded with noble groves of\nthem, is alleged to have been the following: They thought the palm tree,\nwhich is affirmed by Porphyry to bud every month in the year, a most\nstriking emblem of the moon, from whose twelve annual revolutions those\nmonths are formed. Whether or not there be any truth in this, it is not\neasy to say, but it has been remarked by Pococke, that many of the most\nancient pillars in the Egyptian temples bear great resemblance to palm\ntrees, and that their capitals are made in imitation of the top of that\ntree when all the lower branches are cut off; and possibly, he adds, the\npalm trees said to be cut in Solomon's temple, might be only pillars, or\nat least pilastres of this kind. In his plate of Egyptian pillars may be\nseen various columns of this description, and a very remarkable one\nbelonging to the temple of Carnack. Several of the capitals also in other\nplates bear an evident similitude to the expanded top of trees with their\nbranching foliage cut off or compressed.\n\nCaptain Burton in his \"Mission to Gelele,\" says: \"In the days of Bosman\n(1700) the little kingdom of Whydah adored three orders of gods, each\npresiding, like the several officers of a prince, over its peculiar\nprovince.\n\n\"The first is the Danh-gbwe, whose worship has been described. This\nearthly serpent is esteemed the supreme bliss and general good; it has\n1000 Danh'si or snake-wives, married and single votaries, and its\ninfluence cannot be meddled with by the two following which are subject to\nit.\n\n\"The second is represented by lofty and beautiful trees, 'in the formation\nof which Dame Nature seems to have expressed her greatest art.' They are\nprayed to and presented with offerings in times of sickness, and\nespecially of fever. Those most revered are the Hun-'tin, or acanthaceous\nsilk cotton (Bombax), whose wives equal those of the snake, and the Loko,\nthe well-known Edum, ordeal or poison tree of the West African coast. The\nlatter numbers few Loko-'si, or Loko spouses; on the other hand, it has\nits own fetish pottery, which may be bought in every market. An inverted\npipkin full of cullender holes is placed upon the ground at the tree foot,\nand by its side is a narrow-necked little pot into which the water\noffering is poured. The two are sometimes separated by a cresset shaped\nfetish iron, planted in the earth. The _cultus arborum_, I need hardly\nsay, is an old and far-spread worship; it may easily be understood as the\nexpression of man's gratitude and admiration. The sacred trees of the\nHindu were the Pippala (_Ficus religiosa_), the Kushtha (_Cortus\nspeciosus_), the sacred juice of the Soma, which became a personage, and\nmany others. The Jews and after them the early Christians and the Moslems,\nhad their Tuba or Tree of Paradise. Mr. Palgrave, traversing Arabia in\n1862-63, found in the kingdom of Shower or Ha\u00edl distinct tree worship, the\nacacia (_Talh_) being danced round and prayed to for rain. In Egypt and\nother Moslem lands rags and cloths are suspended to branches, vestiges of\nancient Paganism. North European mythology embraced Yggdrasit, or the\nWorld Tree. We no longer approach the gods with branches of this sacred\nvegetation in hand; still the maypole and Christmas tree, the yule log and\nthe church decorations of evergreens, holly and palms, and the modern use\nof the sterility-curing mistletoe, descend directly from the\n_treovveordung_, or tree-worship of ancient England.\"\n\nCaptain George Glass, in his \"History of the Canary Islands,\" chapter 13,\non the island of Hierro, says:--\"On account of the scarcity of water, the\nsheep, goats and swine here do not drink in the summer, but are taught to\ndig up the roots of fern and chew them to quench their thirst. The great\ncattle are watered at the fountains, and at a place where water distils\nfrom the leaves of a tree. Many writers have made mention of this famous\ntree; some in such a manner as to make it appear miraculous; others again\ndeny the existence of any such tree, among whom is Father Feyjoo, a modern\nSpanish author, in his \"Theatro Critico.\" But he, and those who agree with\nhim in this matter, are as much mistaken as they who would make it appear\nto be miraculous. This is the only island of all the Canaries which I have\nnot been in; but I have sailed with natives of Hierro, who when questioned\nabout the existence of this tree, answered in the affirmative.\"\n\nThe author of the History of the Discovery and Conquest has given us a\nparticular account of it, which I shall relate here at large.\n\n\"The district in which this tree stands is called Tigulahe, near to which,\nand in the cliff or steep rocky ascent that surrounds the whole island, is\na narrow gutter or gulley, which commences at the sea and continues to the\nsummit of the cliff, where it joins or coincides with a valley, which is\nterminated by the steep front of a rock. On the top of this rock grows a\ntree, called in the language of the ancient inhabitants, Garse, _i.e._\nSacred or Holy Tree, which for many years has been preserved sound, entire\nand fresh. Its leaves constantly distil such a quantity of water as is\nsufficient to furnish drink to every living creature in Hierro; nature\nhaving provided this remedy for the drought of the island. It is situated\nabout a league and a half from the sea. Nobody knows of what species it\nis, only that it is called Til. It is distinct from other trees and stands\nby itself; the circumference of the trunk is about twelve spans, the\ndiameter four, and in height from the ground to the top of the highest\nbranch forty spans: the circumference of all the branches together is one\nhundred and twenty feet. Its fruit resembles the acorn and tastes\nsomething like the kernal of the pine apple, but is softer and more\naromatic. The leaves of this tree resemble those of the laurel, but are\nlarger, wider, and more curved; they come forth in a perpetual succession,\nso that the tree is always green. On the north side of the trunk are two\nlarge tanks or cisterns of rough stone, or rather one cistern divided,\neach half being twenty feet square, and sixteen spans in depth. One of\nthese contains water for the drinking of the inhabitants, and the other\nthat which they use for their cattle, washing and suchlike purposes.\n\n\"Every morning near this part of the island a cloud or mist arises from\nthe sea, which the south and easterly winds force against the\nfore-mentioned steep cliff, so that the cloud having no vent but by the\ngutter, gradually ascends it and from thence advances slowly to the\nextremity of the valley, where it is stopped and checked by the front of\nthe rock which terminates the valley, and then rests upon the thick leaves\nand wide-spreading branches of the tree, from whence it distils in drops\nduring the remainder of the day, until it is at length exhausted, in the\nsame manner that we see water drip from the leaves of trees after a heavy\nshower of rain. This distillation is not peculiar to the garse or til, for\nthe bresos, which grow near it, likewise drop water; but their leaves\nbeing but few and narrow, the quantity is so trifling, that though the\nnatives save some of it, yet they make little or no account of any but\nwhat distils from the til; which together with the water of some fountains\nand what is saved in the winter season, is sufficient to serve them and\ntheir flocks. This tree yields most water in those years when the Levant\nor easterly winds have prevailed for a continuance; for by these winds\nonly, the clouds or mists are drawn hither from the sea. A person lives on\nthe spot near which this tree grows who is appointed by the council to\ntake care of it and its water, and is allowed a house to live in, with a\ncertain salary. He every day distributes to each family of the district\nseven pots or vessels full of water, besides what he gives to the\nprincipal people of the island.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n    _Usefulness of the Ash Tree--Its position among Sacred Trees--The\n    Queen of Trees--Mythology of the Ash--Scotch superstitious usages--The\n    \"Ash Faggot Ball\" Somersetshire--Pliny and others on the Serpent and\n    the Ash--The Ash as a medium of cure of complaints--Anecdotes--Phallic\n    Associations--The New Birth--Ireland and the Ash--The Juniper\n    Tree--The Madonna and the Juniper--The Elm Tree--Mythology of the\n    Elm--The Apple Tree--Mythological allusions to the Apple Tree--The\n    Pine Tree--Wind Spirits--German Superstitions--The Oak Tree--Universal\n    Sacredness of the Oak--The Oak of the Hebrew Scriptures--Classic\n    Oaks--Socrates and his oath--Greek sayings--The Trees speaking--Sacred\n    Oak of Dodona--Legend of Philemon and Baucis--The Hamadryads--The Yule\n    Log--St. Boniface--Mysteries connected with the Oak--The Christmas\n    Tree._\n\n\nThe Ash, while one of the most useful and valuable of British trees,\ndemands particular attention from the fact that it has always held a\nforemost position amongst the sacred trees of ancient nations. In the\nScandinavian mythology it was the mundane tree--the symbolical tree of\nuniversal life. \"Best and greatest of trees,\" it was called, \"with a\ntriple root reaching to the mythic regions of the first giants and the\n\u00c6sir, and penetrating to the nebulous Niflheim, its majestic stem\novertopping the heavens, its branches filling the world; it is sprinkled\nwith the purest water, whence comes the dew that falls on the dales, its\nlife-giving energy is diffused throughout all nature.\"\n\nIt has been said that if the oak be regarded as the king of trees and the\nHercules of the forest, the ash may fairly claim supremacy as their queen,\nand Gilpin terms it the \"Venus of the Woods.\"\n\n\"At its foot is the Undar fountain where sit the three Norns or\nFates--time past, time present, and time to come; these give Runic\ncharacters and laws to men, and fix their destinies. Here is the most holy\nof all places, where the gods assemble daily in council, with All-Father\nat their head.\n\n\"These three Norns have a certain analogy to the three mythic Persian\ndestinies seated by the fountain of perennial life; and the tree itself is\nevidently a symbol of that inscrutable power which is the life of all\nthings; thus representing, under an arborescent form, the most ancient\ntheory of nature, analogous to that personified in the Indian _Parvati_,\nthe goddess of life and reproduction; also in the Egyptian _Isis_; and in\nthe figure so frequently met with in the museums of Italy, called 'Diana\nof the Ephesians,' a variety of the Indian _Maya_.\n\n\"In the Chinese sacred books, 'the _Taou_ (the divine reason or wisdom,\nbut here put for the _Deity_) preserves the heavens and supports the\nearth: he is so high as not to be reached, so deep as not to be followed,\nso immense as to contain the whole universe, and yet he penetrates into\nthe minutest things.' The sacred ash of the Scandinavians corresponds as a\nsymbol with the Chinese _Taou_.\"[19]\n\nHesiod and Homer both mention the ash; the latter mentioning the ashen\nspear of Achilles, and telling us that it was by an ashen spear that he\nwas slain.\n\nIn the heathen mythology, Cupid is said to have made his arrows first of\nash wood, though they were afterwards formed of cypress.\n\nSo much mystery has always been associated with the ash tree, that in all\nages and in all countries innumerable superstitions have grown up in\nconnection with it, and, from their modern propagation in an age of\neducation, will evidently die hard.\n\nIn many parts of the Highlands of Scotland, at the birth of a child, the\nnurse puts one end of a green stick of this tree into the fire, and while\nit is burning gathers in a spoon the sap or juice which oozes out at the\nother end, and administers it as the first spoonful of food to the\nnewly-born babe.\n\nIn Somersetshire, and some other counties, the burning of an ashen fagot\nis a regular Christmas custom, and it is supposed that misfortune will\ncertainly fall upon the house where it is not duly fulfilled. In the same\ncounty, there is held annually the \"Ash Faggot Ball.\" The fagot is bound\nwith three withes, which are severally chosen to represent them by the\nyoung people present--the first withe that breaks in the fire signifying\nthat they who selected it will be the first to be married. It is said that\nthese customs prevail extensively where the Arthurian legends are very\nstrong, and that \"it is probable that the association of the ash with\nArthur grew out of its dedication to the gods of war, on account of\ntoughness for weapons.\"\n\nWhile many of the surviving superstitions connected with the ash may\nprobably be traced to Yggdrasill, it has been observed that though\nYggdrasill was an ash, there is reason to think that, through the\ninfluence of traditions, other sacred trees blended with it. Thus while\nthe ash bears no fruit, the Eddas describe the stars as the fruit of\nYggdrasill. \"This\" says Mr. Conway, \"with the fact that the serpent is\ncoiled around its root, and the name Midgard, _i.e._, midst of the garden,\nsuggest that the apple-tree of Eden, may have been grafted on the great\nash.\" He also says there is a chapel at Coblentz where a tree is pictured\nwith several of the distinctive symbols of Yggsdrasill, while on it the\nforbidden fruit is represented partly open, disclosing a death's head. The\nserpent is coiled round the tree's foot. When Christian ideas prevailed,\nand the Norse deities were transformed to witches, the ash was supposed to\nbe their favourite tree. From it they plucked branches on which to ride\nthrough the air. In Oldenburg it is said the ash appears without its red\nbuds on St. John's Day, because the witches eat them on the night before,\non their way to the orgies of Walpurgisnacht.\n\nFroschm\u00e4uster along with Pliny records the ancient popular belief that a\nserpent will rather pass through fire in endeavouring to escape from an\nenclosed circle than go under the shade of or touch the bough of the ash.\nIn connection with this, Dioscorides affirms that the juice of ash leaves,\nmixed with wine, is a cure for the bite of serpents.\n\nAnother and a studiedly cruel superstition was that if a hole were bored\nin an ash tree and a live shrew mouse enclosed therein and left to perish,\na few strokes with a branch of the tree thus prepared would cure lameness\nand cramp in cattle, afflictions supposed to have been brought on by the\ninfluence of the same little animal.\n\nIn our first volume of Phallic Worship an interesting reference was made\nto certain curative properties supposed to be connected with the passing\nof a diseased or afflicted body through a cleft stick, twig, or tree.\n\nJust here, when writing upon the ash tree, it is proper again to allude to\nthat peculiar custom, or superstition. This tree was long held in great\nveneration even in our own country for its supposed virtue in removing\nrickets or healing internal ruptures. Newspapers and old magazines record\nmany instances illustrative of the profound faith of many of the country\nfolk in this mode of getting relief, and the method of procedure appears\nto have been nearly always the same, and akin to the passing of a diseased\nor polluted person through a human image in the eastern parts of the\nworld.\n\nThe author of the \"Natural History of Selborne\" says that in Hampshire a\ntree was chosen, young and flexible, and its stem being severed\nlongitudinally, the fissure was kept wide open, and the child to be\nhealed, being duly undressed, was passed three times through the aperture.\nAfter the operation, the tree was bandaged up and plastered over with\nloam. It was believed that if the severed parts of the tree united the\nchild and the tree gradually recovered together; if the cleft continued to\ngape, which could only happen through negligence or want of skill, it was\nthought that the operation had proved ineffectual.\n\nAnother account in a newspaper forty years ago says a poor woman applied\nto a farmer residing in the same parish for permission to pass a sick\nchild through one of his ash trees. The object was to cure the child of\nthe rickets. The mode in which the operation was performed was as\nfollows:--A young tree was split from the top to about the height of a\nperson, and laid sufficiently open to pass the child through. The ceremony\ntook place before three o'clock in the morning, and before the sun rose.\nThe child had its clothes removed. It was then passed through the tree by\nthe woman and received on the other side by some person. This was done\nthree times and on three consecutive mornings; the ash was then carefully\nbound together.\n\nIn the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for June, 1804, a letter from a\ncorrespondent says: \"On Shorley Heath, Warwickshire, on the left-hand side\nof the road going from Shorley Street to Hockley House, there stands a\nyoung ash tree, close to the cottage of Henry Rowe, whose infant son,\nThomas Rowe, was drawn through the trunk or body of it, in the year 1791,\nto cure him of a rupture, the tree being split open for the purpose of\npassing the child through it. The boy is now thirteen years and six months\nold. I have this day, June 19th, 1804, seen the ash tree and Thomas Rowe,\nas well as his father Henry Rowe, from whom I received the above account;\nand he superstitiously believes that his son Thomas was cured of the\nrupture by being drawn through the cleft in the said ash tree, and by\nnothing else.\"\n\nIn the month of October following, another correspondent says: \"The\nash-tree described by your correspondent grows by the side of Shirley\nStreet, at the edge of Shirley Heath, in Solihull parish. The upper part\nof the gap formed by the chisel has closed, but the lower part remains\nopen, and the tree is healthy and flourishing. Thomas Chillingworth, son\nof the owner of an adjoining farm, now about thirty-four, was when an\ninfant about a year old passed through a similar tree--now perfectly\nsound--which he preserves with so much care that he will not suffer a\nsingle branch to be touched, for it is believed that the life of the\npatient depends on the life of the tree, and the moment that it is cut\ndown, be the patient ever so distant, the rupture returns, and\nmortification ensues and terminates in death, as was the case in a man\ndriving a waggon on the very road in question. Rowe's son was passed\nthrough the present tree in 1722, at the age of one or two. It is not,\nhowever, uncommon for persons to survive for a time the felling of the\ntree. In one case the rupture returned suddenly and mortification\nfollowed. These trees are left to close of themselves or are closed with\nnails. The woodcutters very frequently meet with the latter. One felled on\nBunnan's farm was found full of nails. This belief is so prevalent in this\npart of the country, that instances of trees that have been employed as a\ncure are very common. The like notions obtain credit in some parts of\nEssex.\"\n\nWith regard to the choice of a particular tree for these superstitious\ncures, Moor says: \"The ash is said to be the tree always selected on these\noccasions, perhaps because it is more easily cleft than most others, and\nmay more readily recover of such a wound. I have heard of a bramble being\nsubstituted, but not on ocular authority.\"\n\nThere is no passage in the Christian or Hebrew Scriptures on which, as\nconcerning the ash, the Talmudists or Targumists could in such proneness\nbuild anything mysterious. The ash is but once--Isa xliv. 14--mentioned in\nthe Bible, and this is in a plain non-mystical manner.\n\nIt may here be observed that the ash was of old a venerated tree. Hesiod\nmakes it the origin of his brazen men. Among the mysteries of the\nScandinavians, the whole human race is of the same origin. From one\nspecies of ash the Calabrians gather manna. It exudes in summer from\nincisions or perforations, which almost necessarily assume, when made and\nwhen healed an Ionic form. Another species of ash is poisonous: again\nconnecting it with Sivaic or Kalaic fable. The mountain ash, a tree\ndiffering generically, I believe, from the common ash, shares also in the\nmysterious repute. In days of greater superstition than the present, it\nwas used as a counterspell against witchcraft. If its name of mountain ash\nhas been given to it from its supposed love of elevated regions, it will\nbecome more and more connected with Kali, in her character of the\n\"mountain-born, mountain-loving Diana;\" who, in one of her characters,\ncorresponds with the obstetric Lucina.\n\nA scholar, duly imbued with mysticism, might, haply, trace and connect\nsundry poetical and widely-spread superstitious allusions to the ash. Moor\nsays: \"Only one peculiarity in it occurs to me; this is, that the wood of\nyoung ash is as tough, hard, and durable as of old: of seven years as of\nseventy. This, with a certain class might seem a type or symbol of youth\nand age. In common with the sycamore, the ash tree bears, and is\npropagated, by a key, as we and certain other nations call the seed.\" In\nour volume on Phallism, in the chapter on the _Crux Ansata_ we have seen\nsomething of the mysticism connected with that name and form, and it is\nnot necessary to repeat it here. Moor says: \"It might be insufferable to\nhint at the Kalaic sound in the initial of _Clauis_: and that possibly\nsomething astronomical may have been fancied in the configuration of the\nspots on the singularly disposed black peculiarity of the foliage of the\nsycamore; such leaves moreover in their exterior form being triunical and\nbifurcated at their base.\"\n\n\"A longitudinal wound in the bark of a tree will primarily assume the\nSivaic form--the erect, obeliscal! like the tree itself, symbolic of the\n_Linga_. Expanded, for a mysterious purpose--and it is curious what a\nnumber of such mysterious purposes seem to have occurred to prurient\neyes--it is Ionic. Duplicated, when healing and healed, we find it still\nof like allusion.\"\n\nMoor proceeds: \"In rural wanderings I have been struck with the\nuniformities of the wounds in trees--all, be they recent or healed,\nincisions or perforations, in sound or hollow trees, exhibiting that\nalmost all-pervading form so mystical in the eye of a Saiva, or a Sakti,\nor an Ioni jah; and perhaps of Brahmans generally. As such they are borne\non the foreheads of Hindus of the present day, as they were of old; and as\nthey probably were also among the Egyptians; and, more of individual or\nofficial than sectarial distinction perhaps among the Israelites.\n\n\"With Hindus, in a word, it is the form of nature's matrix; with\nPlutonists, or Vulcanists, or Saiva, it is creation--it is heat--it is\nrenovation--it is fire--it is regeneration--it is all in all. So it is\nwith Neptunists, the Vaishnavas: then, of course, of aqueous, in lieu of\nigneous, reference. \"What is the sea,\" they say, \"but the hollow of the\nhand--the great _argha_--of nature--or matrice of production and\nreproduction?\"\n\n\"In the seemingly whimsical operation of the cleft tree, now more\nimmediately under our notice, the all-pervading form and feeling may be\nrecognised. A child issuing head first (by some practitioners feet first)\nthrough such cleft--or a man through a natural or artificial similar\nfissure or cleft in a rock, or through a like form of metal, down to the\nridiculous cut cheese of Oxford--all seem to be indications of\nobstetricity, and would not fail of reminding a 'twice-born' Brahman of a\n'second birth' or regeneration--of which mysterious matter his ceremonial\nand spiritual books abound.\n\n\"The 'new birth' of Christians--let it not be deemed irreverent to mix\nsuch subjects--is expressly declared and universally understood to be of\ngrace; spiritual, though it produce no visible fruits. Superstition, the\noffspring of ignorance and craft, may occasionally symbolize it into\ncarnality. But such is the proneness of Brahmans to general sexualization\nthat although their esoteric dogma of regeneration is said to be\nsufficiently guarded on that point, it has notwithstanding, from such\nproneness, been degraded into doctrines and ritual ceremonies that we may\nterm mythological, or whimsical, or ridiculous, or worse.\n\n\"The investiture of the 'twice-born'--a common periphrasis for a\nBrahman--of a mystical triple cord, or rather a thread diversely\nre-triplicated up to the number ninety-six, is understood to be a\npurifying rite. This thread has several names. That by which it is mostly\ncalled is _Zennaar_. By western writers it has been common to call it the\n'sacerdotal thread,' or the 'Brahminical thread,' meaning thereby,\nprobably, to confine it to priests. But it is not confined to priests nor\nto Brahmans. The two next classes wear it and are canonically and\nceremonially entitled. If the reader supposes that Brahman and priest are\nsynonymous he is in error. With Hindus all priests are Brahmans. Through\nthis mystical _zennaar_, or _vinculum_, the sanctified person is passed\nwith endless ceremonials. The figurative language common in eastern idioms\nof 'twice born,' being 'made whole' &c., is with us spirituality. But it\nis by others misunderstood, and hence those who are not 'broken-hearted,'\nnot 'broken in spirit,' but broken in body, seek to be 'made whole' by a\nphysical rite; and pass regeneratively through a _zennaar_, or a tree, or\na stone, of a peculiar form or figure.\"[20]\n\nIn Ireland the mountain ash, according to a popular belief, was an\nantidote to charms, and a protective against witchcraft, the evil-eye and\ndisease. In Scotland, known as the rowan-tree or roun-tree, it was\nsimilarly regarded, a branch of it being placed over the door of the\ncowshed for the safely of the cattle. The saying was:\n\n  \"Rowan tree and red thread\n  Put the witches to their speed.\"\n\nIts position in Scandinavian mythology we mention at length in other\npages.\n\nPliny says such is its influence that snakes will not rest in its shadow,\nshunning it at a distance. From personal knowledge, he says if a serpent\nbe so encompassed by a fence of ash leaves as that he cannot escape\nwithout passing through fire, he will prefer the fire rather than come in\ncontact with the leaves.[21]\n\n\"The juniper,\" says De Gubernatis, \"is much venerated in Italy, in\nGermany, and on the shores of the Baltic, by reason of its alleged power\nto dispel evil influences. In Esthonias, holes and crevices in the walls\nor dwellings are beaten with a branch of juniper, lest evil spirits bring\nsickness there. When the wicked spirits draw nigh and see the juniper they\ntake themselves off. At Pistoja the explanation given of a local custom of\nhanging a branch of juniper over every door is that whenever witches see\nthe juniper they are impelled by an uncontrollable desire to count the\nleaflets; but these are so numerous that they can never make the number\nright, and in despair take flight lest they be surprised and detected.\nThere is an analogous belief in Germany. In Waldeck, according to Dr.\nMaunhardt when a child falls sick it is customary for the parents to put a\nlock of wool and a piece of bread in a bunch of juniper, that the evil\nspirits may find employment in eating and spinning therein, and so forget\nthe child, with whom it is feared, they have been over busy.\n\n  'Ye fiends and ministers of hell\n  Here bring I wherewithal that ye may spin,\n  And eat likewise;\n  Eat, therefore, and spin,\n  And forget my child.'\"[22]\n\n\"In Germany a \"Frau Wachholder\" (Dame Jupiter) personifies the genius of\nthe juniper tree, and is invoked to make robbers give up their spoil. A\nbranch of a juniper bush is bent down to the ground and kept down with a\nstone, the name of the real or supposed thief being repeated at the same\ntime, with injunctions to bring back the booty. Whenever the desired\nresult comes about the stone is removed and the branch set free. Here\nseems to be a counterpart of the thief-catching staff or rod of Indian\nfolk-lore, which survives in so many Aryan usages and customs. Like other\ntrees with hispid foliage, the juniper has the special attribute of\ndetaining fugitives; but it sometimes shields them as well. An Italian\nlegend described the Madonna as saved in her flight by a juniper bush,\njust as in German story the holy Walpurga is hidden from her pursuers by a\npeasant in a patch of wheat. An aged crone of Signa, in Tuscany, thus\nrelates the legend to De Gubernatis:--Our Lady was flying with the infant\nJesus, and Herod's soldiers were in hot pursuit. As they went the broom\ntrees and chick peas rustled, risking betrayal; the flax stood bolt\nupright and apart; but as the fugitives drew near, a juniper bush parted\nits branches to receive them in its friendly embrace. Wherefore the Virgin\nthen and there cursed both the broom and the chick pea, which from that\nday forth have never ceased to rustle. The fragility of the flax she\nforgave, but she laid her blessing on the juniper; and to this clay at\nChristmastide, in nearly every Italian stall juniper is hung, as bunches\nof holly are in England, France, and Switzerland.\"\n\n\"Like the holly, juniper drives away evil influences of every kind from\nhouse and fold, and is held to be peculiarly efficacious in protecting\nhorses and cattle from the incorporeal monsters which sometimes haunt and\ntrouble them.\n\n\"In a very rare little work, published at Bologna in 1621, the author,\nAmadeo Castra, makes mention of a Bolognese custom on Christmas Eve of\ndistributing branches of juniper to every house. He adds, that all writers\nare agreed as to its efficacy against serpents and venomous beasts; that\nit supplied the wood of the cross; that it covered the flight of Elias;\nfinally arriving at the conclusion that the sanctity of the juniper equals\nthat of the cedar; that its usage is not a fashion or superstition, but a\nholy mystery; and that as its fragrant smoke arises from our hearths we\nshould remember that so should our prayers ascend to the ears of the\nDeity.\"[23]\n\n\"The ancients regarded the Elm as a funereal tree, it is said, because it\nbears not fruit; but De Gubernatis supposes because of its longevity and\nthe ease with which it multiplies.\n\n\"In Catullus, the elm is the husband and the vine the wife. So, too, the\nSanscrit K\u00e2lidasa makes the mango the husband of a climbing plant, a\nspecies of jasmine. When the charming Sakuntala comes into the presence of\nthe young king Dushyanti, one of the female courtiers murmurs in the\nking's ear, 'This _navamallika_ (jasmine) that you call the light of the\nforest is married of her own free will to _sahakara_ (the mango).'\n\n\"In the 'Iliad,' Achilles bridges the enchanted streams Xanthus and Simois\nwith the trunks of an elm tree. When Achilles kills the father of\nAndromache he raised in his honour a tomb, around which the nymphs came to\nplant elms. At the first note of Orpheus' lyre bewailing the loss, of\nEurydice, there sprang up a forest of elms.\"[24]\n\n\"The Apple tree was formerly supposed to be the Tree of Knowledge, the\nfruit of which was eaten by Eve in Paradise; and it is a curious fact,\nthat the apple tree is also distinguished by legends in the mythologies of\nthe Greeks, the Scandinavians, and the Druids. The pagans believed that\nthe golden fruit of the Hesperides, which it was one of the labours of\nHercules to procure, in spite of the fierce dragon that guarded them and\nnever slept, were apples; though modern writers have supposed them\noranges. In the _Edda_, we are told that the goddess Iduna had the care of\napples which had the power of conferring immortality; and which were\nconsequently reserved for the gods, who ate of them when they began to\nfeel themselves growing old. The evil spirit Loke took away Iduna and her\napple tree, and hid them in a forest where they could not be found by the\ngods. In consequence of this malicious theft, everything went wrong in the\nworld. The gods became old and infirm; and, enfeebled both in body and\nmind, no longer paid the same attention to the affairs of the earth; and\nmen having no one to look after them, fell into evil courses, and became\nthe prey of the evil spirit. At length, the gods finding matters get worse\nevery day, roused their last remains of vigour, and, combining together,\nforced Loke to restore the tree.\n\n\"Hercules was worshipped by the Thebans, under the name of Melius, and\napples were offered at his altars. The origin of this custom was the\ncircumstance of the river Asopus having on one occasion overflowed its\nbanks to such an extent, as to render it impossible to bring a sheep\nacross it which was to be sacrificed to Hercules; when some youths,\nrecollecting that an apple bore the same name as a sheep in Greek, offered\nan apple, with four little sticks stuck in it to resemble legs, as a\nsubstitute for the sheep; and after that period the pagans always\nconsidered the apple as specially devoted to Hercules.\"[25]\n\nThe Pine tree, from a very early date, has been by many races looked upon\nas sacred. It was consecrated in Greece to Poseidon and Dionysius, and as\nsacred to Zeus was beloved by the Virgins. In the pastorals of Longus,\nChloe is adorned with a _Pinea Corona_ as an emblem of virginity, which\nDaphne takes from her and puts on her own head.\n\n\"Diana, or maids mix its chaplets with the mastic, as a tree of all others\nmost fruitful, but not with the myrtle, which, as sacred to Venus, may not\nappear in a professed virgin's wreath.\" (Forlong.)\n\nThe position occupied by the tree in Assyria may be seen in Mr. Layard's\nworks, he speaks of it as the \"sacred tree\" along with the \"corner stone.\"\n\"The corner stone,\" says Forlong, \"is usually considered the principal\nstone of a building, hence the _principle_ in each religion is called its\nprincipal or corner stone, and the fruit of this most sacred tree is the\ncommonest and best gift to the gods. This is probably why we find the tree\neverywhere, and why the Assyrian priests are usually shown as presenting a\npine cone to their gods and altars. The seed cone seems, however, to be at\ntimes the cone of Indian corn, but Mr. Layard thinks that the pine or\ncypress cone is most used in the 'Cult de Venus.' The Thyrsus of Bacchus,\nwe may remember, has a fir cone, and the Bacchic Pole is usually held to\nbe of pine, as very inflammable and odoriferous--it is remarkably like the\ninsignia of Boodhism and of most other faiths, as the Tri-Sool or three\nthorns of Siva, the tridents of Neptune, and other deities.\"\n\nThe pine was supposed by some to be inhabited by wind spirits, like Ariel,\nowing to the whispering noise proceeding from it in the breeze. The legend\nwas that it was the mistress of Boreas and Pan, an idea acceptable to the\nGerman mind in consequence of its holes and knots, which were believed to\nbe the means of ingress and egress for the spirits. It is told that a\nbeautiful woman of Sm\u00e4land, who was really an elf, left her family through\na knot-hole in the wooden house-wall. \"Frau Fichte,\" the pine of Silesia,\nis believed to possess great healing powers, and its boughs are carried\nabout by the children on Mid-Lent Sunday, adorned with coloured papers and\nspangles; it is also carried with songs and rejoicing to the doors of\nstables where it is suspended in the belief that it will preserve the\nanimals from harm.\n\nIn other parts superstitions equally striking prevail. In Bohemia men\nthink if they eat the kernel of the pine cone from the top of a tree on\nSt. John's Day they will be invulnerable against shot. A writer in\n\"Fraser's Magazine\" in 1870, said that he saw sprigs of pine stuck on the\nrailway wagons bearing the German soldiers into France. In some parts of\nGermany it is quite common for a man subject to gout to climb a pine tree\nand tie a knot in its highest shoot as a cure for his malady, saying as he\ndoes it: \"Pine, I bind here the gout that plagues me.\"\n\nWith many nations of antiquity the oak tree was regarded as a special\nobject of religious veneration, such as the Kelts, the Teutonic races, the\nDruids, the early inhabitants of Palestine, the early Greeks and Hebrews.\n\nBetween the Hebrew customs and those of the Druids a very marked\nresemblance has been traced by various writers of learning and ability. In\nancient Jewish history the oak is often mentioned and in a manner which\nseems to ascribe to it a symbolical meaning. According to Kitto \"it was\nregarded as the emblem of a divine covenant, and indicated the religious\nappropriation of any stone monument erected beneath it; it was also\nsymbolical of the divine presence, possibly from association.\"[26]\n\nFrom the earliest ages the oak has been considered as one of the most\nimportant of forest trees. Held sacred alike by Hebrews, Greeks, Romans,\nGauls and Britons, \"it was the fear of the superstitious for their oracle\nand at the same time the resort of the hungry for their food.\" Early\nhistory is full of references to this tree. In Genesis xii., 6, 7, mention\nis made of the plain of Moreh, where it is said God appeared to Abram, the\nproper rendering of the word plain being oak. The plain of Mamre also\noccurs, and wherever it does should be oak or ash groves. Genesis xviii.,\n1, for instance, where it is recorded that the angels announced to the\npatriarch the birth of Isaac. This oak, Jewish tradition says was, long\nafter Abraham's time, held as an object of veneration, indeed Bayle in his\n\"Historical and Critical Dictionary,\" article \"Abraham,\" says:--\"This puts\nme in mind of the oak of Mamre, under which Abraham is said sometimes to\nhave cooled himself. This oak, they tell you, was standing in the reign of\nConstantine.\" Loudon mentions that this tree or rather the grove of Mamre,\nis frequently alluded to in the Old Testament; and in Eusebius's \"Life of\nConstantine\" we find the oaks of Mamre expressly mentioned as a place\nwhere idolatry was committed by the Israelites, close to the tomb of\nAbraham, and where Constantine afterwards built a church. Numerous other\ninstances may be found of the mention of the oak in the Scripture not\nnecessary to enter into here.\n\nTurning to classic lore, the references are even more numerous. We have\nthe oak groves of Dodona, in Epirus, the most ancient and celebrated of\noracles, whose priests sent out their revelations on its leaves.\n\nPliny says that the oaks in the forest of Hereynia were believed to be as\nold as the world, also that oaks existed at the tomb of Ilus near Troy,\nwhich had been sown when that city was first called Ilium.\n\nSocrates took oath by the oak; also the women of Priene, a maritime city\nof Ionia, in matters of importance. On Mount Lyc\u00e6us, in Arcadia, there was\na temple of Jupiter with a fountain, into which the priest threw an oak\nbranch, in times of drought, to produce rain. The Greeks had two\nremarkable sayings relative to this tree, one of which was the phrase: \"I\nspeak to the oak,\" as a solemn asseveration; and the other, \"born of an\noak,\" applied to a foundling; because anciently children, when the parents\nwere unable to provide for them, were frequently exposed in the hollow of\nan oak tree.\n\nSo important a position does the oak occupy in the history of the subject\nwe are now discussing, that before dismissing it we feel bound to call\nattention to some of those mythological allusions to it which have been\ncollected by Loudon for the enrichment of the pages of his admirable\n\"History of the Trees and Shrubs of Britain.\"\n\n\"The oak was dedicated by the ancients to Jupiter, because it was said\nthat an oak tree sheltered that god at his birth on Mount Lyc\u00e6us, in\nArcadia; and there is scarcely a Greek or Latin poet or prose author, who\ndoes not make some allusion to this tree. Herodotus first mentions the\nsacred forest of Dodona (ii. c. 57.) and relates the traditions he heard\nrespecting it from the priests of Egypt. Two black doves, he says, took\ntheir flight from the city of Thebes, one of which flew to the temple of\nJupiter Ammon and the other to Dodona, where, with a human voice, it\nacquainted the inhabitants that Jupiter had consecrated the ground, which\nwould in future give oracles. All the trees in the grove became endowed\nwith the gift of prophecy; and the sacred oaks not only spoke and\ndelivered oracles while in a living state, but, when some of them were cut\ndown to build the ship 'Argo,' the beams and masts of that ship frequently\nspoke and warned the Argonauts of approaching calamities. (See Hom. Ody.,\nxiv.; Lucian, vi., 427; Apoll., Book I., &c.) After giving the account\nabove related, Herodotus adds what he calls the explanation of it. He says\nthat some Phoenician merchants carried off an Egyptian priestess from\nThebes into Greece, where she took up her residence in the forest of\nDodona, and erected there, at the foot of an old oak, a small temple in\nhonour of Jupiter, whose priestess she had been at Thebes. The town and\ntemple of Dodona are said by others to have been built by Deucalion\nimmediately after the great flood, when, in gratitude for his\npreservation, he raised a temple to Jupiter, and consecrated the oak grove\nto his honour. This grove, or rather forest, extended from Dodona to\nChaonia, a mountainous district of Epirus, so called from Chaon, son of\nPriam, who was accidently killed there by his brother Helenus. The forest\nwas, from this, sometimes called the Chaonian Forest; and Jupiter Chaonian\nFather. (See Virgil, Ovid, &c.) The oracle of Dodona was not only the most\ncelebrated but the richest in Greece, from the offerings made by those who\ncame to it, to enquire into futurity. The prophecies were first delivered\nby doves which were always kept in the temple, in memory of the fabulous\norigin assigned to the oracle; but afterwards the answers were delivered\nby the priestesses; or, according to Suidas, Homer and others, by the oaks\nthemselves: hollow trees no doubt being chosen, in which a priest might\nconceal himself. During the Thracian war a deputation of Boeotians\nconsulting the oracle, the priestess told them that \"if they would meet\nwith success, they must be guilty of an impious action:\" when in order to\nfulfil the oracle, they seized her and burnt her alive. After this the\nDodonian oracles were always delivered to the Boeotians by men. The\noracular powers of the Dodonian oaks are frequently alluded to, not only\nby the Greek and Latin poets, but by those of modern times. (See Cowper's\nAddress to the Yardley Oak and Wordsworth's Lines to a Spanish Oak.)\n\n\"Milo of Croton was a celebrated athlete, whose strength and voracity were\nso great that it was said he could carry a bullock on his shoulders, kill\nit with a blow of his fist, and afterwards eat it up in one day. In his\nold age, Milo attempted to tear up an old oak tree by the roots; but the\ntrunk split and the cleft part uniting, his hands became locked in the\nbody of the tree; and being unable to extricate himself, he was devoured\nby wild beasts. (Ovid; Strab; Paus.)\n\n\"The oak was considered by the ancients as the emblem of hospitality;\nbecause when Jupiter and Mercury were travelling in disguise, and arrived\nat the cottage of Philemon, who was afterwards changed into an oak tree,\nthey were treated with the greatest kindness. Philemon was a poor old man\nwho lived with his wife Baucis in Phrygia, in a miserable cottage, which\nJupiter, to reward his hospitality, changed into a magnificient temple, of\nwhich he made the old couple priest and priestess, granting them the only\nrequest they made to him, viz., to be permitted to die together.\nAccordingly, when both were grown so old as to wish for death, Jove turned\nBaucis into a lime tree, and Philemon into an oak; the two trees entwining\ntheir branches, and shading for more than a century the magnificent portal\nof the Phrygian temple.\n\n\"The civic crown of the Romans was formed of oak; and it was granted for\neminent civil services rendered to the state, the greatest of which was\nconsidered to be the saving of the life of a Roman citizen.\n\n\"Acorns having been the food of man till Ceres introduced corn, boughs of\noak were carried in the Eleusinian mysteries.\n\n\"Boughs of oak with acorns were carried in marriage ceremonies, as emblems\nof fecundity. Sophocles, in the fragment of Rhizotomi, describes Hecates\nas crowned with oak leaves and serpents. Pliny relates of the oaks on the\nshores of the Cauchian Sea, that, undermined by the waves and propelled by\nthe winds, they tore off with them vast masses of earth on their\ninterwoven roots, and occasioned the greatest terror to the Romans, whose\nfleets encountered these floating islands. Of the Hyrcynian forest he\nsays, \"These enormous oaks, unaffected by ages and coeval with the world\nby a destiny almost immortal, exceed all wonder. Omitting other\ncircumstances that might not gain belief, it is well known that hills are\nraised up by the encounter of the jostling roots; or where the earth may\nnot have followed, that arches, struggling with each other, and elevated\nto the very branches, are curved as it were into wide gateways, able to\nadmit the passage of whole troops of horse.\"\n\n\"This forest is described by C\u00e6sar as requiring sixty days to traverse it;\nand the remains of it are supposed by some to constitute the forest on the\nmountains of the Hartz; and by others to be the Black Forest of the Tyrol.\n\nThe beautiful fiction of the Hamadryads is frequently referred to by the\nGreek poets. The Hamadryads were nymphs, each of whom was\n\n  'Doomed to a life coeval with her oak.'\n\nCallimachus, in the Hymn to Delos, represents Melia as \"sighing deeply for\nher parent oak;\" and adds--\n\n  'Joy fills her breast when showers refresh the spray:\n  Sadly she grieves when autumn's leaves decay.'\n\n\"In Appollonius Rhodius, Book II., we find one of the Hamadryads imploring\na woodman to spare the oak to which her existence is attached:\n\n  \"Loud through the air resounds the woodman's stroke,\n  When lo! a voice breaks from the groaning oak.\n  'Spare, spare my life! a trembling virgin spare!\n  Oh, listen to the Hamadryad's prayer!\n  No longer let that fearful axe resound;\n  Preserve the tree to which my life is bound!\n  See from the bark my blood in torrents flows,\n  I faint, I sink, I perish from your blows.'\"\n\n\"The oak, evidently, was an object of worship among the Celts and ancient\nBritons. The Celts worshipped their God Teut under the form of this tree;\nand the Britons regarded it as a symbol of their God Tarnawa, the god of\nthunder.\"\n\nJust here we are reminded by Loudon and others of the Yule log and Yule\nfestival, a most ancient British institution, now known to our dwellers in\ntowns only by historical report. Professor Burnet tells us the word yule\ncomes from Hu, the Bacchus of the Druids; others derive it from Baal, Bal,\nor Yiaoul, the Celtic god of fire, and who was sometimes identified with\nthe sun and worshipped under the form of an oak. Baal was considered the\nsame as the Roman Saturn, and his festival (that of Yule) was kept at\nChristmas, which was the time of the Saturnalia. The Druids professed to\nmaintain perpetual fire; and once every year all the fires belonging to\nthe people were extinguished, and relighted from the sacred fire of the\nDruids. This was the origin of the Yule log, with which, even so lately as\nthe commencement of the last century, the Christmas fire in some parts of\nthe country was always kindled; a fresh log being thrown on and lighted,\nbut taken off before it was consumed, and reserved to kindle the Christmas\nfire of the following year. The Yule log was always of oak; and as the\nancient Britons considered that it was essential for their hearth fires to\nbe renewed every year from the sacred fire of the Druids, so their\ndescendants thought that some misfortune would befall them if any accident\nhappened to the Yule log. (See Irving's \"Bracebridge Hall.\")\n\nThe worship of the Druids was generally performed under an oak; and a heap\nof stones was erected on which the sacred fire was kindled, which was\ncalled a cairn, as Professor Burnet says, from Kern an acorn.\n\nThe well-known chorus of \"Hey derry down,\" according to this gentleman,\nwas a druidic chant, signifying, literally, \"In a circle the oaks move\nround.\"\n\nCriminals were tried under an oak tree; the judge being placed under the\ntree, with the jury beside him, and the culprit placed in a circle made by\nthe chief Druid's wand. The Saxons also held their national meetings under\nan oak, and the celebrated conference between the Saxons and the Britons,\nafter the invasion of the former, was held under the oaks of Dartmoor.\n\nThe wood of the oak was appropriated to the most memorable uses: King\nArthur's round table was made of it, as was the cradle of Edward III., who\nwas born at Carnarvon Castle; this sacred wood being chosen in the hope of\nconciliating the feelings of the Welsh, who still retained the prejudices\nof their ancestors, the ancient Britons.\n\nIt was considered unlucky to cut down any celebrated tree; and Evelyn\ngravely relates a story of two men who cut down the Vicar's Oak, in\nSurrey; one losing his eye and the other breaking his leg soon after. (See\nLoudon's Arb. et Frut. Brit.)\n\nThe reverence with which the oak was regarded was by no means confined to\nthe Celts. St. Boniface during his wanderings in Central Germany waged a\nsharp war against the heathen superstitions connected with trees and\nwells. There was a Thor's Oak (the oak was in an especial manner dedicated\nto Thor) of enormous size in the country of the Hessians, greatly\nreverenced by the people, which, following the advice of some of the\nChristian converts, St. Boniface determined to cut down. Accordingly he\nbegan to hew at the gigantic trunk, whilst the heathen folk stood round\nabout, prodigal of their curses, but not daring to interfere. The tree had\nnot been half cut through, when, says Willibrord, the biographer of\nBoniface, who was himself present, a supernatural wind shook the great\ncrown of its branches, and it fell with a mighty crash divided into four\nequal parts. The heathens, he continues, recognised the miracle, and most\nof them were converted on the spot. With the wood of the fallen tree St.\nBoniface built an oratory, which he dedicated in honour of St. Peter.[27]\n\nThe destruction of this oak has been considered a wise step, as it was\nevidently a matter of tremendous difficulty, in spite of innumerable\ndecrees and canons condemnatory of heathen ceremonies in connection with\ntrees, to get rid of the idolatry while the object of it remained.\n\nSometimes the tree was, as it is called, re-appropriated by the saint of\nthe district; then the evils resulting seemed as bad as ever. There was\nSt. Colman's oak, for instance, any fragment of which, kept in the mouth,\nwas believed would effectually ward off death by hanging. There was also\nSt. Columba's oak at Kenmare which, when blown down in a storm, no one\ndared to touch, or to apply the wood of it to ordinary purposes, except a\ncertain tanner, who used the bark for curing leather. With the leather he\nmade himself a pair of shoes; but the first time he put them on he was\nstruck with leprosy, and remained a leper all his life.\n\nIt has for ages, in England, been thought that the oak was specially and\nmysteriously protected. Aubrey in his history of Surrey says:--\"A strange\nnoise proceeds from a falling oak, so loud as to be heard at half-a-mile\ndistant, as if it were the genius of the oak lamenting. It has not been\nunusually observed that to cut oak-wood is unfortunate. There was at\nNorwood one oak that had mistletoe, a timber tree, which was felled about\n1657. Some persons cut this mistletoe for some apothecaries in London, and\nsold them a quantity for ten shillings each time, and left only one branch\nremaining for more to sprout out. One fell lame shortly after; soon after\neach of the others lost an eye; and he that felled the tree, though warned\nof these misfortunes of the other men, would, notwithstanding, adventure\nto do it, and shortly after broke his leg; as if the Hamadryades had\nresolved to take an ample revenge for the injury done to their venerable\noak. I cannot here omit taking notice of the great misfortunes in the\nfamily of the Earl of Winchelsea, who, at Eastwell in Kent, felled down a\nmost curious grove of oaks, near his own noble seat, and gave the first\nblow with his own hands. Shortly after his countess died in her bed\nsuddenly; and his eldest son, the Lord Maidstone, was killed at sea by a\ncannon bullet.\"\n\nGrimm points out many superstitions connected with the oak in Germany. It\nis believed in India that holes in trees are doors through which the\nspecial spirits of those trees pass, and this is found in Germany in the\nidea that the holes in the oaks are pathways for elves; and that certain\ntroubles, especially of hand or foot, may be cured by contact with these\nholes. Near Gundalskol stood an oak popularly regarded as the habitation\nof a \"Bjarmand,\" but he was driven away by the church bells. It is said\nthat a farmer was engaged to an elf-girl, but instead of a bride he\nembraced an oak sapling. In a churchyard at Heddinge, Seeland, are the\nremains of an oak wood declared to be the soldiers of the Erl-King,\nassuming the forms of armed men at night. In Westphalia, it is the custom\nto announce formally to the nearest oak any death that has occurred in a\nfamily. The process of healing rupture, once common in England, with the\nash, is performed in Germany with the oak.\n\n\"The Christmas-tree has become a prevailing fashion in England at this\nseason, and is by most persons supposed to be derived from Germany; such\nhowever is not the fact; the Christmas-tree is from Egypt, and its origin\ndates from a period long antecedent to the Christian era. The palm-tree is\nknown to put forth a shoot every month, and a spray of this tree, with\ntwelve shoots on it, was used in Egypt at the time of the winter solstice,\nas a symbol of the year completed. Egyptian associations of a very early\ndate still mingle with the tradition and custom of the Christmas-tree;\nthere are as many pyramids as trees used in Germany, in the celebration of\nChristmas, by those whose means do not admit of their purchasing trees and\ntheir concomitant tapers. These pyramids consist of slight erections of\nslips of wood, arranged like a pyramidal _epergne_, covered with green\npaper, and decorated with festoons of paper-chain work, which flutters in\nthe wind and constitutes a make-believe foliage. This latter, however, is\nan innovation of modern days.\"[28]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n    _Icelandic customs--The Sacred Ash--The Prose Edda and Tree\n    Worship--Icelandic Mythology of the Ash--The Norns--The Czeremissa of\n    the Wolga--The Jakuhti--Sacred Trees of Livonia--Phallic Tree Worship\n    and objects in Bavaria._\n\n\nIn his \"Northern Antiquities,\" M. Mallet says: \"We have seen that the\nIcelandic mythology reckons up twelve goddesses, including Frigga, the\nspouse of Odin, and the chief of them all. Their names and respective\nfunctions will be found in the Prose Edda. Besides these twelve goddesses\nthere are numerous virgins in Valhalla, or the paradise of the heroes.\nTheir business is to wait upon them and they are called Valkyrior. Odin\nalso employs them to choose in battles those who are to perish, and to\nmake the victory incline to whatever side he pleases. The court of the\ngods is ordinarily kept under a great ash tree and there they distribute\njustice. This ash is the greatest of all trees; its branches cover the\nsurface of the earth, its top reaches to the highest heaven, it is\nsupported by three vast roots, one of which extends to the ninth world. An\neagle, whose piercing eye discovers all things, perches upon its branches.\nA squirrel is continually running up and down it to bring news; while a\nparcel of serpents, fastened to the trunk, endeavour to destroy him. From\nunder one of the roots runs a fountain wherein wisdom lies concealed. From\na neighbouring spring (the fountain of past things) three virgins are\ncontinually drawing a precious water, with which they water the ash tree:\nthis water keeps up the beauty of its foliage, and, after having refreshed\nits leaves, falls back again to the earth, where it forms the dew of which\nthe bees make their honey. These three virgins always keep under the ash,\nand it is they who dispense the days and ages of men.\"\n\n\"In the 'Prose Edda' just alluded to, a piece of ancient Norse literature\ncommonly ascribed to Snorri Sturluson, we get a good deal respecting the\nveneration and regard paid by the people to this tree.\n\n\"'Where,' asked Gangler, 'is the chief or holiest seat of the gods?'\n\n\"'It is under the ash Yggdrasill,' replied Har, 'where the gods assemble\nevery day in council.'\n\n\"'What is there remarkable in regard to that place?' said Gangler.\n\n\"'That ash,' answered Jafnhar, 'is the greatest and best of all trees. Its\nbranches spread over the whole world, and even reach above heaven. It has\nthree roots very wide asunder. One of them extends to the \u00c6sir, another to\nthe Frost-giants in that very place where was formerly Ginnungagap, and\nthe third stands over Niflheim, and under this root, which is constantly\ngnawed by Nidh\u00f6gg, is Huergelmir. But under the root that stretches out\ntowards the Frost-giants there is Mimir's Well, in which wisdom and wit\nlie hidden. The owner of this well is called Mirmir. He is full of wisdom,\nbecause he drinks the waters of the well from the horn Gjoll every\nmorning. One day All-Father came and begged a draught of this water, which\nhe obtained, but was obliged to leave one of his eyes as a pledge for it.\nAs it is said in the V\u00f6lusp\u00e1--\n\n  'All know I, Odin!\n  How thou hiddest thine eye\n  In Mimir's well-spring\n  Of limpid water.\n  Mead quaffs Mimir\n  Each morn from the pledge\n  Valfadir left him.\n  Conceive ye this or not?'\n\n\"'The third root of the ash is in heaven, and under it is the holy\nUrdar-fount. 'Tis here that the gods sit in judgment. Every day they ride\nup hither on horseback over Bifr\u00f6st, which is called the \u00c6sir Bridge.\nThese are the names of the horses of the \u00c6sir: Sleipner is the best of\nthem; he has eight legs and belongs to Odin. The others are Gladyr,\nGyllir, Gl\u00e6r, Skeidbrimir, Silfrintoppr, Synir, Gils, Falhofnir,\nGulltoppr and Lettfeti. Baldur's horse was burnt with his master's body.\nAs for Thor, he goes on foot, and is obliged every day to wade the rivers\ncalled K\u00f6rmt and OErmt, and two others called K\u00e9rlaung.'\n\n\"'Through these shall Thor wade every day, as he fares to the doomstead\nunder Yggdrasill's ash, else the \u00c6sir Bridge would be in flames and\nboiling hot would become the holy waters.'\n\n\"'But tell me,' said Gangler, 'does fire burn over Bifr\u00f6st?'\n\n\"'That,' replied Har, 'which thou seest red in the bow, is burning fire;\nfor the Frost-giants and the Mountain-giants would go up to heaven by that\nbridge if it were easy for everyone to walk over it. There are in heaven\nmany goodly homesteads, and none without a celestial ward. Near the\nfountain, which is under the ash, stands a very beauteous dwelling, out of\nwhich go three maidens, named Und, Verdaudi, and Skuld. These maidens fix\nthe life-time of all men and are called Norns. But there are indeed many\nother Norns, for when a man is born there is a Norn to determine his fate.\nSome are known to be of heavenly origin, but others belong to the races of\nthe elves and dwarfs; as it is said--\n\n\"'Methinks the Norns were born far asunder, for they are not of the same\nrace. Some belong to the \u00c6sir, some to the elves, and some are Dvalin's\ndaughters.'\n\n\"'But if these Norns dispense the destinies of men,' said Gangler, 'they\nare, methinks, very unequal in their distribution; for some men are\nfortunate and wealthy, others acquire neither riches nor honour; some live\nto a good old age, while others are cut off in their prime.'\n\n\"'The Norns,' replied Har, 'Who are of good origin, are good themselves,\nand dispense good destinies. But those men to whom misfortunes happen\nought to ascribe them to the evil Norns.'\n\n\"'What more wonders hast thou to tell me,' said Gangler, 'concerning the\nash?'\n\n\"'What I have further to say respecting it,' replied Har, 'is that there\nis an eagle perched upon its branches who knows many things; between his\neyes sits the hawk called Vedurf\u00f6lnir. The squirrel named Ratatosk runs up\nand down the ash, and seeks to cause strife between the eagle and Nidh\u00f6gg.\nFour harts run across the branches of the tree and bite the buds. They are\ncalled D\u00e1inn, Dvalinn, Duneyr, and Durathr\u00f3r. But there are so many snakes\nwith Nidh\u00f6gg in Hvergelmir that no tongue can recount them. As is said--\n\n  'Yggdrasill's ash\n  More hardship bears\n  Than men imagine;\n  The hart bites above,\n  At the sides it rots,\n  Below gnaws Nidh\u00f6gg.'\n\n\"And again--\n\n  'More serpents lie\n  Under Yggdrasill's ash\n  Than simpletons think of;\n  G\u00f3inn and M\u00f3inn,\n  The sons of Grafvitnir,\n  Gr\u00e1bak and Gr\u00e1fy\u00f6llud,\n  Ofnir and Svafnir,\n  Must for aye, methinks,\n  Gnaw the roots of that tree.'\n\n\"It is also said that the Norns who dwell by the Urdar-fount draw, every\nday, water from the spring, and with it and the clay that lies around the\nfount sprinkle the ash, in order that its branches may not rot and wither\naway. This water is so holy that everything that is placed in the spring\nbecomes as white as the film within an eggshell. As it is said in the\nV\u00f6lusp\u00e1\n\n  'An ash know I standing\n  Named Yggdrasill,\n  A stately tree sprinkled\n  With water the purest\n  Hence come the dewdrops\n  That fall in the dales;\n  Ever blooming, it stands\n  O'er the Urdar-fountain.'\n\n\"The dew that falls thence on the earth men call honey-dew, and it is the\nfood of the bees. Two fowls are fed in the Urdar-fount; they are called\nswans, and from them are descended all the birds of this species.\"\n\n\"The Yggdrasill myth, with its three aborescent roots, three fountains,\nand three destinies, is one of the most significant and poetical to be\nfound in any system of mythology, but its explanation has, as usual, given\nrise to the most conflicting theories. Gr\u00e4ter and Finn Magnusen offer a\nphysical, Trautwetter an astronomical, Mone an ethical explanation, and\nGrundtvig applies his favourite theory of the \"heroic theory of the north\"\n(Norden's K\u00e6mpe Aand)--pugnacious spirit would be a more appropriate\ndesignation--to this, as indeed to every other myth which he treats of, in\nthat most singular and rather too crotchety work of his entitled \"Norden's\nMythologi.\"\n\n\"According to Finn Magnusen, Yggdrasill is the symbol of universal nature.\nOne of its stems (so he terms the roots) springs from the central\nprimordial abyss--from the subterranean source of matter as it might be\ntermed (Hvergelmir)--runs up through the earth, which it supports, and\nissuing out of the world's centre, \"called Asgard, Caucasus, Borz,\" &c.,\nspreads its branches over the entire universe. These wide-spreading\nbranches are the ethereal or celestial regions; their leaves, the clouds;\ntheir buds or fruits, the stars; the four harts are the four cardinal\nwinds; the eagle is a symbol of the air; the hawk of the wind-still ether;\nand the squirrel signifies hailstones, snow flakes, vapourous\nagglomerations, and similar atmospherical phenomona.\n\n\"Another stem springs in the warm south over the ethereal Urdar-fountain,\nthe swans swimming in which denote the sun and moon. The third stem takes\nits rise in the cold and cheerless regions of the north, over the source\nof the ocean, typified by Mimir's well. The myth of Odin leaving his eye\nas a pledge to Mimir, signifies the descent of the sun every evening into\nthe sea--to learn wisdom from Mimir during the night; the mead quaffed by\nMimir every morning being the ruddy dawn that, spreading over the sky,\nexhilarates all nature. Nidh\u00f6gg, and the other monsters that gnaw the\nfruits of the mundane tree, are the volcanic and other violent torrents\nthat are constantly striving to consume or destroy the earth's\nfoundations.\n\n\"Although we agree with Finn Magnusen in regarding Yggdrasill as the\nsymbol of universal nature, we think that in attempting to explain the\nmyth in all its details, he has let his imagination, as usual, get the\nbetter of his judgment, and lead him into the most palpable\ninconsistencies; insomuch so, in fact, that when we begin to examine his\ntheory we are almost tempted to exclaim, with Grundting, \"one would think\nit was meant for a joke.\" Jacob Grimm--how refreshing it always is to turn\nto his admirable pages--very justly observes that the whole myth of\nYggdrasill bears the stamp of a very high antiquity, but does not appear\nto be fully unfolded. \"We learn,\" he says, \"something respecting the\nenmity between the eagle and the snake, and that it is kept up by\nRatat\u00f6sk, but nothing as to the destination of the hawk and the four\nharts.\" These remarks of Grimm are fully borne out by the very meagre\naccount given of the Yggdrasill myth in the V\u00f6lusp\u00e1, and the Grimnis-mal,\nthe only Eddaic poems that make mention of it. In order that the reader\nmay be aware on what very slight foundations Finn Magnusen can construct\nan elaborate theory, we subjoin a literal translation of all the Eddaic\nstrophes that relate to the myth, the words in brackets being inserted to\nrender the obscure passages more intelligible.\n\n\"From the V\u00f6lusp\u00e1:--\n\n\"St. 17.--'An ash know I standing, called Yggdrasill. A high tree\nsprinkled with the purest water. Thence comes the dew that falls in the\ndales. It (the ash) stands ever-green over the Urdar-fountain.'\n\n\"18.--'Thence come the much-knowing maidens--three from that lake\n(fountain) which is under the tree. One is called Urd, another Verdani,\nand the third Skuld. They engraved (Runic inscriptions, _i.e._, recorded\nevents) on tablets. They laid down laws; they determined (determine) the\nlife of the sons of men; they tell (fix) the destinies (of men).'\n\n\"From Grimnis-mal:--\n\n\"St. 29.--'Kormt and OErmt, and the two Kerlangar--these rivers must\nThor wade through every day as he fares to the doomstead under\nYggdrasill's ash, otherwise the \u00c6sir-bridge would be in flames, and\nboiling hot would become the holy waters.'\n\n\"30.--'(The horses), Gladr, Gyllir, Gl\u00e6r, Skeidbrimir, Silfirintoppr,\nSynir, Falhofnir, Gulltoppr, and Lettfetti, are ridden by the \u00c6sir\nevery day when they go to the doomstead under the ash Yggdrasill.'\n\n\"31.--'Three roots stand in three ways (extend to three regions) under the\nash Yggdrasill. Hela dwells under one; (under) another (dwell) the\nForest-giants; (under) the third (dwell) mortal men' (literally human\nmen).\n\n\"32.--'Ratat\u00f6sk is called the squirrel that shall run (that runs) on the\nash Yggdrasill. The eagle's words he shall bear (he bears) downwards, and\nshall tell (tells) them to Nidh\u00f6gg below.'\n\n\"33.--'There are also four harts that on the summit (of the ash), with\nbent necks, bite (the leaves), Dain, Dvalin, Duneyr and Durathr\u00f3r are\ntheir names.'\n\n\"We think that all that can be gathered from this account of the ash\nYggdrasill, and that given in the Prose Edda, is that the mundane tree is\nrepresented as embracing with its three roots the whole universe; for one\nof these roots springs from Hvergelmir in Niflheim, another from Mimir's\nwell, situated somewhere or other in the region of the Forest-giants, and\nthe third from the Urdar-fount, which is obviously placed in the celestial\nregions. We have thus a super-terrestial or supernal (the Urdar) root; a\nterrestial (the Mimir) root; and a sub-terrestial or infernal (the\nHvergelmir) root. That the fountain of the Norns was supposed to be in the\nethereal regions is unquestionable; for we are told in Grimnis-mal that\nman-kind dwelt under it, and the Prose Edda expressly states that it is\n\"in heaven,\" and it would appear above Asgard, for the \u00c6sir are described\nas riding up to the Urdar-fountain. Finn Magnusen, as we have seen, places\nthis fountain and roots issuing from it in the warm south. In his\n_Eddaloeren_ he gives us, in fact, to understand that the fountain\nsprings from a high and steep cliff at the south pole, though he admits,\nfor once, that nothing respecting such a cliff is to be found in the\nEddaic Poems; the only authority he is able to adduce in support of this\nstrange hypothesis being a figurative expression made use of by a Skald,\nin a poem written after his conversion to Christianity. Finn Magnusen is\nalso of opinion that the pure water with which the tree is sprinkled by\nthe Norns means \"the snow agglomerated in the northern sky,\" and that \"dew\nthat falls in the dales,\" signifies the ever verdant aspect of the\nsouthern parts of the earth, as well as the clear azure sky by which this\nperennial verdure is canopied.\n\nMone regards the ash as the emblem of human life. Man is born of water;\nthe swan is therefore the infantile soul that swims on the water: but the\neagle, the mature experienced mind that soars aloft; the hawk perched\nbetween the eagle's eyes being eternal sensation. The snakes that gnaw the\nroot of life are the vices and passions; the squirrel, the double-tongued\nflatterer, constantly running between these passions and the mind (the\neagle) which has raised itself above their control. The harts denote the\npassions of the mind, folly, madness, terror and disquietude, and\ntherefore feed on the healthy thoughts (the green leaves). But as man in\nhis levity remarks not what enemies threaten his existence, the stem rots\non the side, and many a one dies before he attains to wisdom, or\nfiguratively before the bird of his soul (the eagle) is seated amidst the\nperennial verdure of the mundane tree.\n\nLing supposes Yggdrasill to be the symbol both of universal and human\nlife, and its three roots to signify the physical, the intellectual, and\nthe moral principles.\n\nOther writers cited by Finn Magnusen take these roots to have been meant\nfor matter, organization and spirit, and the ash itself for the symbol of\nuniversal primordial vitality.\n\nThe translator of Mallet adds in a note: \"The ash was the most appropriate\ntree that could have been chosen for such an emblem. Virgil describes it\nwith its outspreading branches as enduring for centuries, and it is a\nsingular coincidence that he should have represented it as a tree that\nreaches with its roots as far downwards as it does upwards with its\nbranches. We may here remark that the maypole and the German _Christbaum_\nhave a Pagan origin, the type of both being the ash Yggdrasill.\"\n\nStrahlenberg informs us that the Czeremisi or Scheremissi were a Pagan\npeople under the government of Casan. Those who lived on the right side of\nthe Wolga were called Sanagornya, and those on the left side of that river\nLugowija. These people had no idols of wood or stone, but directed their\nprayers to heaven in the open air, and near great trees to which they paid\nhonour, holding their assemblies about them. The hides and bones of the\ncattle they sacrificed they hung about these holy trees to rot, by way of\nsacrifice to the air.\n\nThe Jakuhti were a Pagan people under the Russian Government, along the\nriver Lena and about the city of Jakutskoi.\n\nWhile not actually worshipping idols carved in wood, like the Ostiaks and\nTungus\u00fc, they had a type or image of their invisible god stuffed out with\na body like a bag, with monstrous head and eyes of coral. This image they\nhung upon a tree and round it the furs of sables and other animals. They\nhad many superstitious customs in common with other nations, which they\ncelebrated about certain trees regarded as sacred. When they met with a\nfine tree they hung all manner of nick-nacks about it--of iron, brass\ncopper, &c. They are said to have carried nine different sorts of things\nfor offerings to their Hayns or idolatrous groves.\n\nTheir priests, when they performed their rites, put on garments trimmed\nwith bits of iron, rattles and bells. As soon as the fields began to be\ngreen, each generation gathered together at a place where there was a fine\ntree and a pleasant spot of ground. There they sacrificed horses and oxen,\nthe heads of which they stuck up round the trees.\n\nStrahlenberg, speaking of the Pagans in Russia (of 150 years ago), says:\n\"In general it may be said of them all, that they believe one Eternal\nBeing, who created all things, and whom they pretend to worship under the\nform of many sorts of strange things. Some of them have taken a fancy to\nmany sorts of images; some to animals, birds, and stars; they set apart\nfor their offerings, which they make to heaven, certain places or holy\ngroves, and have regard to fire and other elements.\"[30]\n\nIn the interesting dictionary of Mr. Peter Bayle, under Rubenus (Leonard),\nwe have a notice of Tree Worship which may very well be introduced here as\nassisting generally with our discussion of the subject.\n\nRubenus was a native of Essen in Germany, and entered the order of St.\nBenedict at Cologne in the year 1596. He was in Transylvania in the year\n1588, and he there published theses concerning idolatry, dedicating them\nto Prince Sigismund Battori. He relates a thing which shews that Livonia\nwas still infected with heathenish idolatry. Having received an order from\nhis superiors to go to Dorpat, which is almost the outmost town of\nLivonia, in his way he passed through the sacred woods of the Esthonians.\nHe saw there a pine tree of an extraordinary height and size, the branches\nwhereof were full of divers pieces of old cloth, and its roots covered\nwith many bundles of straw and hay. He asked a man of the neighbourhood\nwhat was the meaning of it; he answered that the inhabitants adored that\ntree, and that the women after a safe delivery brought thither these\nbundles of hay; that they also had a custom to offer at a certain time a\ntun of beer, and to throw a tun of it into the lake of Mariemburg when it\nthundered, and that they thought the thunder was the son of God, and that\nhe was appeased by the effusion of that liquor. He desired they would\nbring him a good hatchet, for that which he had in his chariot was not\nsharp; and when they asked him what he designed to do with it, I will show\nyou, said he, the weakness of what you worship. The Esthonians replied\nthat they could not do what he desired without the utmost danger, and\ncried to him to take care of going under the tree, and if he did both he\nand his chariot would be taken up into the air. However, he made his\nhorses go under it; and, taking his hatchet, in a devout manner he cut the\nfigure of a cross on the pine, and lest that figure made by a man, whom\nthey honoured with the appellation of the great temple of God, should\nincrease their superstition, he cut a gibbet on the same tree, and, in\nderision, said--behold your God.\n\n\"There is no mistake,\" says a writer in Fraser (1871), \"as to our old Tree\nand Serpent faiths. Each hamlet (he is speaking of his visit to Ammer in\nBavaria) has its Maienbaum--a long pole, one hundred feet or more in\nheight, with alternate blue and white stripes coiling round it. The\nMay-pole is intersected by seven or sometimes nine bars, beginning at\nabout ten feet from the ground and running to the top, which is adorned\nwith streamers. On these bars are various emblematic figures. The one at\nMurau had on the lower limb a small tree and a nail with circular nob; on\nthe next a small house, a horseshoe and wheel on one side; a hammer\ncrossed by a pair of pincers on the other, a broom, perhaps Ceres as a\nsheaf of corn; below this was seen the Lingam, with Maya's symbols, the\ncup and cock or the bird of desire sacred to her. Elsewhere we see a\nheart, fire, pyramid, and inverted pyramid, anchor and water as in Egypt,\nand a circle pierced by a line, &c. Can any Phallic tale be more complete?\nWe must be here content with our general knowledge that the Maienbaum was\na Pagan object, and that its decorations were originally symbols of the\ngods and goddesses. Christian significance is given to all these; for as\nthe priest could not efface the old faiths he told his credulous herd that\nthis hammer is that which nailed Christ to the cross, that the tree is\nthe conventional olive of church pictures, and that the cross, the cock,\nthe cup and sacred heart are all connected with the \"Passion of Christ.\"\nThe broom represents witches, and the horseshoe the corona or Mary's head\ndress; it is also Maiya's sign, and is there as a charm to hold witches at\nbay like the Ephod of old. He who may, I fancy, be taken as one great tree\nof life.\n\n\"On May-day it is festooned with branches, for the Bavarian peasants keep\nup, in many ways, the ancient reverence for sacred trees.\n\n\"When a house is finished it is consecrated by having a birch sapling\nstuck into the roof, and in a thousand tales the poor and ignorant are\nstill taught to fear trees. One story says that before a large fir tree\nKing Ludwig's horse fell three times forward on his knees, and here he\nbuilt a celebrated church, taking care that the fir tree should be in its\nvery centre.\"\n\n\"The most interesting feature of the Passion Play to me,\" continues the\nwriter, \"was that nine young birch trees, reaching from floor to ceiling,\nhad been set along the walls inside, at intervals of ten to fifteen feet.\nThat the sacred tree of ancient Germany and even of ancient Greece, which\nhas so long been held as a charm against witches, against lightning and\nother evils, should be here overshadowing Christian worshippers was\ncurious enough. The enclosure was also surrounded by birch trees,\nregularly planted. Like our remote ancestors who worshipped Odin, we sat\namidst the sacred grove. There are some remote corners of these mountains,\nit is said, where one who has a fever still goes to a birch tree and\nshakes it, with the words: 'Birch, a fever plagues me; God grant it may\npass from me to thee!' and where one subject to cramp takes a broom made\nof birch switches into his bed. The presence of these trees is one among\nthe features of the Ammergau Play which justify antiquaries in tracing its\norigin to a period far anterior to that with which it is connected in the\nrecords of the village. The story has often been told of how, nearly two\nand a half centuries ago, a pilgrim came to some sacred festival in the\nvillage and brought with him a plague which devastated it; how the people\ngot together and united in a holy vow, that if their village were spared\nfurther ravages they would, every tenth year, represent solemnly the\nsufferings and death of Christ; and how immediately the scourge was\nremoved, not another person dying even of those who lay sick when the vow\nwas made. But though the villagers do not care to look beyond this story\non their records, the legend itself suggests that there was already some\nfestival there which had attracted the pilgrim who brought them so much\nwoe. Professor von L\u00f6her informed me that there is some evidence, not only\nthat somewhat similar dramatic performances occurred occasionally at\nOberammergau before the period mentioned in the village tradition, but\nthat even far away in Pagan times it was one of the spots where the people\nrepresented the deeds of their gods and heroes theatrically. It is well\nknown that in many regions the early Christians avoided all interference\nwith such Pagan customs when they found them preferring to substitute\ntheir own sacred characters for those of heathenism. There are\nprobabilities, therefore, that the sacred birches which now surround the\nscenes of Christian story once witnessed the life and death of Baldur; or\nthat later still, the birch boughs which the children now strew in the\npath of Christ as he enters Jerusalem, were once cast before the chariot\nof the Sun-god, to symbolize the fresh foliage with which his warm beams\ninvested the earth.\"\n\nThe same writer adds: \"With the birch trees waving around, and these old\nsymbols of once great religions before me, I felt thrilled by an\nimpression of having reached a spot where the prehistoric religion could\nbe traced visibly blending with Christianity.\"\n\nTree and Serpent worship is the theme of many an ancient Greek myth. The\ndestruction of the dragon Python by Apollo, who takes possession of the\noracle which the serpent guarded; the conversion of Cadmus and his wife\ninto serpents when they were regarded as objects of veneration; the story\nof the Argonautic expedition, which was undertaken to recover a fleece\nthat hung on a tree guarded by a dragon; the strangling of serpents by\nHercules; his adventure in the garden of the Hesperides, which reminds us\nof the garden of Eden, though with a different moral; his fight with\nLern\u00e6an hydra; on the other hand, his intercourse with the serpent\nEchidna, through whom he is said to have become the progenitor of the\nwhole race of serpent-worshipping Scythians; the keeping of serpents at\nDelphi and other places for oracular purposes; the serpent worship at\nEpidaurus, where stood the temple of \u00c6sculapius and the grove attached to\nit; the contention between Athene and Poseidon for the guardianship of the\ncity of Athens when the goddess created the olive, planting it on the\nAcropolis, and handed over the care of it to the serpent-god Ericthonius;\nthe statement that when the Persians were approaching Athens the\nAthenians, though warned by the oracle, refused to leave their homes till\nthey learned that the great serpent, the guardian of the city, had refused\nits food and left its place; the curious record concerning the descent of\nAlexander the Great from a serpent; the part which snakes played in the\nBacchic cultus--all these tales show the tenacity of that early form of\nworship.\n\nFergusson adds to this summary of his words by an American writer:--\"The\ntraces of Tree Worship in Greece are even fuller and more defined than\nthose of the Serpent Cultus just alluded to. As each succeeding Buddha in\nthe Indian mythology had a separate and different Bo-tree assigned to him,\nso each god of the classical Pantheon seems to have had some tree\nappropriated as his emblem or representative. Among the most familiar are\nthe oak or beech of Jupiter, the laurel of Apollo, the vine of Bacchus.\nThe olive is the well-known tree of Minerva. The myrtle was sacred to\nAphrodite. The apple or orange of the Hesperides belonged to Juno. The\npopulus was the tree of Hercules, and the plane-tree was the \"numen of\nAtrid\u00e6.\"\n\nWe have now presented a view of this interesting cultus extending over the\nprincipal nations of the Eastern and Western worlds, and reaching from the\nremotest ages to modern times. In doing so, many curious legends and\nsuperstitious customs have been described upon the best authority, and, in\nmost instances, upon the testimony of actual eye witnesses. The story must\nnow stop as our usual limits have been reached; it will probably be\nresumed again in a future volume, which it is hoped will, in conjunction\nwith its predecessors, form a complete exposition of the mysteries of what\nis called Phallic Worship.\n\n\n\n\nBibliography of Authorities consulted and referred to in the preparation\nof these volumes.\n\n\nCLASS I.\n\nSPECIAL WORKS UPON THE PHALLIC CULTUS.\n\nBOUDIN (J. C.) Etudes Anthropologiques, Considerations sur le Culte et les\npratiques r\u00e9ligieuses de divers peuples anciens et modernes; Culte du\nPhallus; Culte du Serpent; 8vo, pp. 88 _Paris_, 1864\n\nCAMPBELL (R. A.) Phallic Worship, an Outline of the Worship of the\nGenerative Organs, as being or as representing the Divine Creator, with\nSuggestions as to the influence of the Phallic idea on religious Creeds,\nCeremonies, Customs, and Symbolism, past and present; 200 illustrations\n_St. Louis, U.S.A._, 1887\n\nDAVENPORT (J.) Aphrodisiacs and Anti-Aphrodisiacs, three essays on the\nPhallic Worship and Powers of Reproduction; illustrated, 4to _Privately\nprinted_, 1869\n\nDAVENPORT (J.) Curiositates Erotic\u00e6 Physiologie, or a Tabooed Subject\nfreely treated; 4to _Privately Printed_, 1869\n\nDULAURE (J. A.) Des Divinit\u00e9s G\u00e9n\u00e9ratrices, ou du Culte du Phallus chez\nles anciens et les modernes; 1st edition, 8vo, pp. xxiv. 428 _Paris_, 1805\n\nDULAURE (J. A.) Histoire abreg\u00e9e de differens Cultes, des Cultes qui ont\npr\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9 et am\u00e9n\u00e9 l'idolatrie ou l'adoration des figures humains (vol. I);\net des Divinit\u00e9s g\u00e9n\u00e9ratrices chez les anciens et les modernes (vol. 2); 2\nvols 8vo, pp. x. 558, xvi. 464 _Paris_, 1825\n\n    [The 2nd vol. is a reprint of foregoing considerably enlarged, and was\n    _suppressed_.]\n\nDULAURE (J. A.) Des Divinit\u00e9s G\u00e9n\u00e9ratrices, ou de Culte du Phallus, chez\nles anciens et les modernes, augment\u00e9e par l'auteur; 8vo, pp. xvi. 422\n_Paris_ (_Siseux_), 1885\n\n    [A reprint of the suppressed 2nd vol. of the 1825 edition]\n\nDOMENECH (l'Abb\u00e9) Manuscrit pictographique Am\u00e9ricain, pr\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9 d'une notice\nsur l'id\u00e9ographie des Peux--Rouges; 8vo, 228 pp. of illustrations _Paris_,\n1860\n\nDOMENECH (l'Abb\u00e9) La Verit\u00e9 sur le \"Livre des Savages;\" 10 pp. of plates\nand text, 8vo _Paris_, 1861\n\nFORLONG (Major-General) Rivers of Life, or Sources and Streams of the\nFaiths of Man in all Lands, with maps, many illustrations, and large\ncoloured chart of Faith Streams; 2 vols. 4to, pp. xii. 565 and 659, and\nchart in case _London_, 1883\n\nD'HANCARVILLE (P. F. Hugues) Monumens de la vie priv\u00e9e des douze C\u00e9sars,\nd'apr\u00e8s une suite de pierres grav\u00e9es sans leur regne; 4to, front. and 50\nplates and text _\u00e0 Rome_, 1786\n\nD'HANCARVILLE (P. F. Hugues) Monumens du Culte Secret des Dames Romaines,\nd'apr\u00e8s, &c., &c., pour Servir de Suite \u00e0 la vie des douze C\u00e9sars; 4to,\nfront. and 50 plates and text _\u00e0 Rome_, 1790\n\n    [Both works since reprinted.]\n\nINMAN (Thos., M.D.) Ancient Faiths embodied in Ancient Names, an attempt\nto trace the religious belief, sacred rites, and holy emblems of certain\nnations, by an interpretation of the names given to childhood, &c.; 3\nvols. 8vo, privately printed _London_, 1869\n\n    [The 3rd vol. having the same title was printed, but not published,\n    and in that form is excessively rare; but it was subsequently\n    reprinted with a different title and other alterations, as:\n\n    \"Ancient Faiths and Modern, a Dissertation upon Worships, Legends and\n    Divinities, in Central and Eastern Asia, Europe and elsewhere, before\n    the Christian era, showing their relations to religious customs as\n    they now exist; 8vo _New York_, 1876\"]\n\nINMAN (Thos., M.D.) Ancient, Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism, 2nd\nedition, enlarged with Essay on Baal-Worship, the Assyrian Groves, and\nother allied symbols, by John Newton, M.R.C.S.; 8vo, many illustrations\n_London_, 1875\n\nJENNINGS (Hargrave) Phallism, celestial and terrestrial, heathen and\nChristian, its connexion with the Rosicrucians and the Gnostics, and its\nfoundation in Buddhism, with an Essay on Mystic Anatomy; 8vo, pp. xxvii.\n298 _London_, 1884\n\nJENNINGS (Hargrave) Illustrations of Phallism, consisting of ten plates of\nremains of ancient Art, with descriptions; 8vo _London_, 1885\n\nKNIGHT (R. P.) An Account of the Remains of the Worship of Priapus, lately\nexisting at Isernia, in the Kingdom of Naples, in two Letters, one from\nSir William Hamilton, K.B. ... to Sir Joseph Banks ... and the other from\na person residing at Isernia; to which is added A Discussion on the\nWorship of Priapus, and its connexion with the mystic Theology of the\nAncients; 4to, pp. 195, 18 plates and an extra one _London_, 1786\n\nKNIGHT (R. P.) A Discourse on the Worship of the Priapus, and its\nconnexion with the mystic theology of the Ancients; to which is added, An\nEssay on the Worship of the Generative Powers during the middle ages of\nWestern Europe; 4to, pp. xvi. 254, and 40 plates, p.p. _London_, 1865\n\n    [The \"Essay\" is understood to have been written by the late Thos.\n    Wright, assisted by Sir James Emerson Tennent and Mr. George Witt; 125\n    copies were printed, of which six were on large paper, and are\n    naturally very scarce.]\n\nKNIGHT (R. P.) Le Culte de Priape et les rapports avec la Th\u00e9ologie\nMystique des Anciens, par Richard Payne Knight, Suivi d'un Essai sur le\nCulte des Pouvoirs g\u00e9n\u00e9rateurs durant le moyen age, traduits de l'Anglais,\npar E.W. (said to have been Madame Yga); 4to, pp. viii. 224, 40 plates,\nLuxembourg _Brussels_, 1886\n\n    [110 copies only printed.]\n\nKNIGHT (R. P.) Do. do., 4to, pp. xviii. 200, 40 plates _Bruxelles_, 1883\n\n    [500 copies printed.]\n\nKNIGHT (R. P.) The Worship of Priapus, an Account of the F\u00e8te of St. Cosmo\nand Damiano, celebrated at Isernia in 1780, in a letter to Sir Joseph\nBanks.... In which is added, Some Account of the Phallic Worship,\nprincipally derived from a Discourse on the Worship of Priapus, by Richard\nPayne Knight, edited by Hargrave Jennings; 4to, pp. xi. 37 _London_, 1883\n\n    [100 copies printed.]\n\nMACFIE (M.) Religious Parallelisms, and Symbolisms ancient and modern\n(Phallic Worship, &c.); 8vo _London_, 1879\n\nMULJI (Karsand\u00e1s) History of the Sect of Mah\u00e1r\u00e1jas, or Vallab\u00e1ch\u00e1ryas in\nWestern India; 8vo, pp. xv. 182 and app. 183, illustrated _London_, 1865\n\n    [500 copies were printed, but only 75 reserved for sale in Europe, the\n    rest were sent to Bombay, so the work is now scarce.]\n\nO'BRIEN (Henry) The Round Towers of Ireland, or the History of the Tuath\nde Danaans for the first time unveiled; 8vo, illustrated _London_, 1834\n\n    [A \"curious\" Preface is to be found in the earlier impressions.]\n\nOPHIOLATREIA.--An Account of the Rites and Mysteries connected with the\nOrigin, Rise and Development of Serpent Worship, Serpent Mounds and\nTemples, the whole forming an exposition of one of the phases of Phallic\nor Sex Worship; 8vo, vellum p.p., _London_, 1889\n\nPHALLISM.--A Description of the Worship of Lingam-Yoni in various parts of\nthe World and in different Ages, with an Account of ancient and modern\nCrosses, particularly of the Crux Ansata, and other Symbols connected with\nthe Mysteries of Sex Worship; 8vo p.p., _London_, 1889\n\nPHALLIC WORSHIP.--A Description of the Mysteries of the Sex Worship of the\nAncients, with the History of the Masculine Cross; 8vo p.p., _London_,\n1886\n\nPHALLIC OBJECTS, Monuments and Remains, Illustrations of the Rise and\nDevelopment of the Phallic Idea (Sex Worship) and its embodiment in Works\nof Nature and Art; 8vo, etched frontispiece p.p., _London_, 1889\n\nPHALLIC OBJECTS AND REMAINS.--Catalogo del Museo Nazionale di Napoli,\nRaccolta Pornographica (Phallic Collection); folio _Napoli_, 1866\n\nPHALLIC OBJECTS AND REMAINS.--Guide pour la Mus\u00e9e Royal Bourbon, par\nVerde, trad. par C. C. J. (Phallic Collection, 161 subjects, ii. pp.\n169-194); 2 vols. 8vo _Naples_, 1831-2\n\nPHALLIC OBJECTS AND REMAINS.--Mus\u00e9e Royal de Naples, Peintures, Bronzes,\net Statues \u00e9rotiques du Cabinet S\u00e9cret, avec notes explicatives de\nplusieurs auteurs; 62 gravs. colori\u00e9es, 2 vols. 4to _Bruxelles_, 1876\n\nPHALLIC OBJECTS AND REMAINS.--The Secret Museum of Naples, being an\naccount of the Erotic Paintings, Bronzes and Statues contained in that\nfamous \"Cabinet Secret,\" by Col. Fanin; 4to, 60 full-page illustrations,\nsome coloured p.p., _London_, 1872\n\nPHALLIC OBJECTS AND REMAINS.--Histoire des Antiquit\u00e9s de la villo de\nNismes et de ses Environs, extrait de M. M\u00e9nard, 1st edition, 1829, avec\nSuppl\u00e9ment et de Notes, &c. (with curious plates of Phallic Remains); 8vo\n_Nimes_, 1829-30\n\nDo. do. 5th edition, par Perrot; 8vo, enlarged _Nismes_, 1834\n\nPHALLIC OBJECTS AND REMAINS.--Herculaneum et Pomp\u00e9i, Recueil g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des\nPeintures, Bronzes, Mosa\u00efques ... augment\u00e9 de sujets in\u00e9dits, grav\u00e9s au\ntrait sur cuivre, par H. Roux ain\u00e9, et accompagn\u00e9 d'un texto explicatif\npar M. L. Barre; 8 vols. 8vo _Paris_, 1875-6\n\n    [The Phallic collection--la Mus\u00e9e Secret--is in a separate case.]\n\n[ROCCO (Sha)] The Masculine Cross and Ancient Sex Worship; _woodcut\nillustrations_, crown 8vo _New York_, 1874\n\nROLLE (P.N.) Recherches sur le Culte de Bacchus, symbole de la force\nreproductive de la Nature, sous ses rapports g\u00e9n\u00e9raux dans les myst\u00e8res\nd'Eleusis, les Dionysiaques; 3 vols. 8vo _Paris_, 1824\n\nROSENBAUM (Dr. J.) Geschichte der Lustseuche im Alterthume, nebst\nausf\u00fchrlichen untersuchungen \u00fcher den Venus, und Phallus Cultus, Bordelle,\nPaederastie, &c....; 2nd edition, pp. 464, 8vo _Halle_, 1845\n\nDo. do. 3rd edition, pp. 484, 8vo _Halle_, 1882\n\nDo. traduct. Fran\u00e7aise par Santluz, in Archives de la Medicine Belge; 3\nvols. 8vo 1845-6-7\n\nSELLON (E.) Annotations on the Sacred Writings of the Hind\u00fbs, being an\nEpitome of some of the most remarkable and leading tenets in the faiths of\nthat people; 8vo p.p., _London_, 1865\n\nSELLON (E.) On the Phallic Worship of India (in Mems. Anthrop. Socy., i.\npp. 327-334) _London_, 1865\n\nSELLON (E.) On Indian Gnosticism, or Sacti Puja, the Worship of the Female\nPowers, pp. 12 (in Mems. Anthrop. Socy., ii. 264-276) _London_, 1866\n\nSIMPSON (H. T.) Archaeologia Adelensis, a History of the Parish of Adel\n(Yorks); 8vo _London_, 1879\n\n    [Phallic Worship is treated fully pp. 154-158, with many etchings of\n    Phallic Rockmarkings, by W. L. Ferguson.]\n\nVENERES ET PRIAPI, ut observantur in gemmis antiquis; 8vo, 70 plates\n_Lugdun Batov_.\n\n    [In several editions--an English one quite recently.]\n\nWAKE (C. Staniland) Serpent Worship and other Essays, Phallism in Ancient\nReligions, Sacred Prostitution, &c., with a chapter on Totemism; 8vo\n_London_, 1888\n\nWAKE (C. Staniland) Ancient Symbol Worship, Influence of the Phallic Idea\nin the Religions of Antiquity, by H. Westropp and Staniland Wake, with\nIntroduction and Notes by Dr. Wilder; 2nd edition, illustrated, 8vo _New\nYork_, 1875\n\nWESTROPP (H. M.) Primitive Symbolism, as illustrated in Phallic Worship or\nthe Reproductive Principle, with Introduction by General Forlong; 8vo\n_London_, 1885\n\nPRIAPEIA, or the Sportive Epigrams of divers Poets on Priapus, now first\ncompletely done into English prose from the original Latin, with\nIntroduction, Notes explanatory and illustrative, an excurs\u00fbs, to which is\nappended the Latin text; 8vo p.p., _London_, 1889\n\n\nCLASS II.\n\nWORKS REFERRING INCIDENTALLY TO THE PHALLIC CULTUS AND CLOSELY ALLIED\nSUBJECTS.\n\nAbbe de Tressau's Heathen Mythology\n\nAcosta's History of the Indies\n\n\u00c6schylus\n\nAlabaster's Modern Buddhist\n\nAll the Year Round, vol. vii.\n\nAncient Pillar Stones of Scotland, Aberdeen, 1865\n\nAnderson's Constitutions\n\nAnthropological Society's Transactions [The Memoirs]\n\nAntiquities of Orissa Rajendralala Mitra\n\nArch\u00e6ologia Scotia\n\nAristophanes\n\nArundale's Jerusalem and Sinai\n\nAsiatic Researches\n\nBacchic Mysteries, On the--Pamphleteer, vol. viii.\n\nBardwell's Temples\n\nBanier's Mythology, iv. vols.\n\nBaring Gould's Myths of Middle Ages\n\nBaring Gould's Origin and Development of Religious Belief\n\nBarker's Ancient World\n\nBarker's Aryan Civilization\n\nBarlow on Symbolism\n\nBastian's Beginnings of Life\n\nBarth's Religions of India\n\nBateman's Ten Years' Diggings\n\nBayle's Dictionary\n\nBeale's Legends of Buddha\n\nBede's Ecclesiastical History\n\nBellamy's History of Religions\n\nBernier's Travels in Mogul Empire\n\nBetham's Etruria Celtica\n\nBird's Travel's in Japan\n\nBirdwood's Indian Arts\n\nBlair's Chronology\n\nBlavatsky's Isis unveiled\n\nBonwick's Egyptian Beliefs\n\nBorlase's Antiquities of Cornwall\n\nBradford's American Antiquities\n\nBrand's Popular Antiquities, iii. vols.\n\nBruite's Myths of the New World\n\nBritish Quarterly, 34\n\nBrown's Vulgar Errors\n\nBryant's Analysis\n\nBuchanan's Journey from Madras, iii. vols.\n\nBuchanan's Researches in Asia\n\nBuckingham's Travels in Palestine, ii. vols.\n\nBullock's Mexican Exhibition\n\nBurckhardt's Travels in Nubia, &c.\n\nBurden's Oriental Customs\n\nBurton's Travels\n\nCalcutta Review\n\nCallcott on Freemasonry\n\nCalmet's Antiquities\n\nCalmet's Dictionary\n\nCamden's Britannia by Gough, iv. vols.\n\nCarne's Letters from the East\n\nCatholic World, vi., ix.\n\nChambers's Journal, viii., xix., xxii.\n\nChardin's Travels in Persia, ii. vols.\n\nClarke's Prehist. Compar. Philology\n\nClarke's Travels in Greece and Albania\n\nClarke's Travels, vi. vols.\n\nClassical Magazine\n\nClosmadeuc, G.--Sculptures Lapidaires et Signes Graves des dolmens dans le\nMorbihan; many plates, 8vo. Vannes, 1873.\n\nColbourn's Mythology, v.\n\nColeman's Mythology of the Hindus\n\nCollyer (R.), Ilkley, Ancient and Modern\n\nComical Pilgrim's Pilgrimage to Ireland\n\nContemporary Review, xii.\n\nConway's Sacred Anthology\n\nCooper's Archaic Dictionary\n\nCornhill Magazine, xix.\n\nCory's Ancient Fragments\n\nCox's Aryan Mythology\n\nCrawford's History of the Indian Archipelago\n\nCudworth's Intellectual System\n\nCunningham's Ancient Geography of India\n\nDavies on British Coins\n\nD'Anville on Ancient Geography\n\nDavies's Celtic Researches\n\nDavies's History and Mythology of the Druids\n\nDavies's Unorthordox London\n\nDawkins's Early Man\n\nDean's Worship of the Serpent\n\nDelaure's Culte du Phallus\n\nDenon's Travels in Egypt\n\nDidron's Christian Iconography\n\nDinsdall's Isocrates\n\nDiodorus\n\nDow's History of Hindostan\n\nDowson's Dictionary of Hindu Mythology\n\nDublin Penny Journal, viii. vols\n\nDublin University Magazine\n\nDubois on the Institutions of India\n\nDu Halde's History of China\n\nDuncker's History of Antiquities\n\nDupuis's Origine de tout les Cultes\n\nEclectic Magazine, lxxii.\n\nEdinburgh Magazine\n\nEleusinian Mysteries, On the--Pamphleteer, vol. viii.\n\nEnglishwoman in Russia\n\nEuripides\n\nEusebius\n\nFaber's Mysteries of the Cabirri\n\nFaber's Pagan Idolatry\n\nFarrer's Primitive Customs\n\nFellows's Mysteries of Freemasonry\n\nFenton's History of Pembrokeshire\n\nFurgusson's Rock Cut Temples of India\n\nFurgusson's Rude Stone Monuments\n\nFurgusson's Tree and Serpent Worship\n\nFleury's Manners of the Ancient Israelites\n\nForbin's Travels in the Holy Land\n\nForester's Sardinia\n\nFoquet (A.) Guide des Jouristes et des Archeologues dans le Morbihan:\nnouv. ed., 12mo. 1873.\n\nFraser's Magazine, lxxxii.\n\nGage's Survey of the West Indies\n\nGale's Court of the Gentiles, iii. vols., 4to.\n\nGibbon's Roman Empire\n\nGill's Myths of the South Pacific\n\nGlass's History of the Canary Isles\n\nGlennie's Pilgrim Memories\n\nGood Words, xiii., xiv.\n\nGoranson's Histories in Mallet's Northern Antiquities\n\nGorius's Etruscan Antiquities\n\nGray's Sculptures of Etruria\n\nGrimm's Tuetonic Mythology\n\nGrose's Antiquities of England, Scotland and Ireland\n\nGrose's Provincial Glossary\n\nGrose's Voyage to the East Indies\n\nGrote's History of Greece\n\nGumpach's History of Antiquities of Egypt\n\nHaeckel's History of Creation\n\nHales's Analysis of Chronology\n\nHalhed's Code of Gentoo Law\n\nHamilton's Egyptica\n\nHanway's Persia\n\nHarper's Magazine, xli.\n\nHaslam's Cross and Serpent Worship\n\nHeeren's Ancient History\n\nHerbert's Antiquity of Stonehenge\n\nHerodotus\n\nHesiod\n\nHeywood's Cup and Ring Stones of Ilkley, Yorkshire\n\nHibbert Lectures for 1878 and 1880\n\nHiggins's Anacalypsis\n\nHiggins's Druids\n\nHolwell on the Feasts of the Hindoos\n\nHolwell's Historical Events\n\nHolwell's Mythological Dictionary\n\nHone's Ancient Mysteries\n\nHorus and Serpent Myths--Cooper Vic. Inst.\n\nHours at Home, i.\n\nHousehold Words, xv., xvi.\n\nHuc's Travel's in Thibet, &c.\n\nHumboldt's Monuments of Ancient Inhabitants of America\n\nHumboldt's Personal Narrative, vii.\n\nHunter's Imperial Gazeteer of India\n\nHunter's Non-Aryan Languages\n\nHunter's Rural Bengal\n\nHutchinson's History of Cumberland\n\nHutchinson's Spirit of Masonry\n\nHutchinson's Two Years in Peru\n\nIndian Antiquary\n\nInternational Magazine\n\nIrving's Bracebridge Hall\n\nJamieson's Scottish Dictionary\n\nJenning's Jewish Antiquities\n\nJenning's Rosicrucians\n\nJones's (Sir W.) Works\n\nJones's (Stephen) Masonic Miscellanies\n\nJosephus\n\nJournal of Asiatic Society of Bengal\n\nJournal of Forestry, vol. viii.\n\nJoyce's History of Irish Names\n\nJoyce's Old Celtic Romances\n\nK\u00e6mpfers' History of Japan\n\nKerney's Outlines of Primitive Belief\n\nKeane's Towers and Temples of Ireland\n\nKeightly's Mythology\n\nKelly's Indu-European Traditions\n\nKennett's Roman Antiquities\n\nKenrick's Ancient Egypt\n\nKenrick's Phoenicia\n\nKilkenny Arch\u00e6ological Journal\n\nKitto's Journal of Sacred Literature\n\nKlaproth's Travels in the Caucasus\n\nKnight's (Payne) Symbolic Language\n\nLamb's Hieroglyphics\n\nLandseer's Saboean Researches\n\nLatham's Ethnology of the British Isles\n\nLaurie's Freemasonry in Scotland\n\nLaws of Manu\n\nLayard's Nineveh and Babylon\n\nLe Compte's Memoirs of China\n\nLedwich's Antiquities of Ireland\n\nLeslie's Ancient Races of Scotland\n\nLeslie's Ceylon\n\nLeslie's Origin of Man\n\nLewis's Origines Hebr\u00e6coe\n\nLord's Banian Religion\n\nLubbock's Pre-historic times\n\nLubbock's Origin of Civilization\n\nLucan's Pharsalia\n\nLucretius's Nature of Things\n\nLundy's Monumental Christianity\n\nLyell's Asiatic Studies\n\nMaclagan's Scottish Myths\n\nMaclean's Celtic Language\n\nMacpherson's Indian Khonds\n\nMadden's Shrines and Sepulchres\n\nMaimonides de Idolatria\n\nMailland's Church of the Catacombs\n\nMalcolm's History of Persia\n\nMalcolm's Memoirs of Central India\n\nMallet's Northern Antiquities\n\nManning's Ancient and Medi\u00e6val India\n\nMacquoid's journey through Brittany\n\nMarco Polo's Travels by Yule\n\nMarshman's History of India\n\nMassey's Book of Beginnings\n\nMaundrell's Journey\n\nMaurice's Ancient History of Hindostan\n\nMaurice's Indian Antiquities, vii. vols.\n\nMaurice's Modern History of Hindostan\n\nMeyrick's History of Cardigan\n\nMill's History of Chivalry\n\nMill's History of the Crusades\n\nMilman's History of the Jews\n\nMontfaucon, L'Antiquit\u00e9 expliqu\u00e9e\n\nMoore's Ancient Stones of Scotland\n\nMoor's Hindu Pantheon\n\nMorris's New Nation\n\nMoule's Fish Heraldry\n\nMounier's Influence of Freemasonry on the French Revolution\n\nMuir's Mahomet and Hist. of Islam\n\nNature, xvii.\n\nNewton's Chronology\n\nNiebuhr's Voyage in Arabia\n\nNieuhoff's Travels in India\n\nNightingale's Religious Ceremonies of all nations\n\nNineteenth Century, iv., vii.\n\nNorden's Travels in Egypt and Nubia\n\nNorth American Review, cx.\n\nO'Brien's Round Towers of Ireland\n\nOckley's Saracens\n\nOld Statistical Account of Scotland\n\nOliphant's Land of Gilead\n\nOliver (L. P.), Megalithic Structures of the Channel Islands, their\nHistory and Analogies, 1870\n\nOliver's Antiquities of Masonry\n\nOliver's History of Beverley\n\nOliver's History of Initiation into Ancient Rites\n\nOliver's Signs and Symbols\n\nOliver's Star in the East\n\nO'Neill's Fine Arts of Ancient Ireland\n\nOort's Worship of Baalim\n\nOrme's Historical Fragments\n\nOrme's Transactions in India\n\nOsburn's Monumental Egypt\n\nOusley's Travels in the East\n\nOvid\n\nOwen's Serpent Worship\n\nPalgrave's Arabia\n\nPalmyra, Antiquities of\n\nPampheteer, The\n\nParsons's Remains of Japheth\n\nPausanias\n\nPennant's Fire Worship in India\n\nPennant's Journey to Alston Moor\n\nPennant's Tour in Scotland\n\nPetrie's Round Towers of Ireland\n\nPhilpot's Heraldry\n\nPicart's Religious Ceremonies\n\nPindar's Odes\n\nPinkerton's Collection of Travels\n\nPliny's Natural History\n\nPlutarch's Lives\n\nPococke's India in Greece\n\nPontoppidon's History of Norway\n\nPopular Science Review, xvii.\n\nPotter's Arch\u00e6ology\n\nPotter's Grecian Antiquities\n\nPrescott's Conquest of Mexico\n\nPrescott's Conquest of Peru\n\nPreston's Illustrations of Masonry\n\nPrideaux's Connection\n\nPritchard's Celtic Nations\n\nPropertius\n\nPurchas's Pilgrim\n\nPurchas's Voyages and Travels\n\nQuarterly Review, cxiv.\n\nRaleigh's History of the World\n\nRamsay on the Theology of the Pagans\n\nReade's Veil of Isis\n\nRenouf's Hibbert Lectures\n\nRivett, Carnac, Snake Myths of India\n\nRoberts's Cambrian Antiquities\n\nRobertson's History of America\n\nRolle's Recherches sur le Culte de Bacchus\n\nRollins's Ancient History\n\nRoss's View of all Religions\n\nRou (C.), Cup-shaped and other Sculptures in the Old World and in America,\n1881\n\nRousselet's India and its Princes\n\nRoyal Institutions of Cornwall\n\nRoyal Irish Academy, Transactions\n\nRust's Druidism Exhumed\n\nSacred Books of the East, many vols.\n\nSale's Koran\n\nSanhita of Sama Veda--Thomson's Translation\n\nSamme's Britannia\n\nSatires of Pers\u00e6us\n\nSavary's Letters on Egypt\n\nSavary's Letters on Greece\n\nSayce's Lectures\n\nSchlieman's Mycen\u00e6 and Tiryns\n\nSecret Societies of the Middle Ages\n\nSeeley's Wonders of Elora\n\nSeldon's Fabulous God's Denounced in the Bible\n\nSeptchenes's Religion of the Ancient Greeks\n\nSharpe's Hebrew Nation\n\nSimpson's Arch\u00e6ological Essays\n\nSimpson (Sir J.) Archaic Sculpturings of Cups, &c., upon Stones and Rocks\nin Scotland, England and other countries.\n\nSinclair's Statist, vol. xvii.\n\nSkene's Celtic Scotland\n\nSkertchly's Dahomy as it is\n\nSmiddy's Druids and Towers of Ireland\n\nSmith's Chaldean Genesis\n\nSmith's Greek and Roman Antiquities\n\nSociety of Antiquaries of Scotland, Proceedings\n\nSonnerat's Voyages\n\nSocrates' Eccles. Hist.\n\nSpencer's Ceremonial Institutions\n\nSpineto's Lectures\n\nSquier's Serpent Symbols\n\nSt. James's Magazine, xxv.\n\nStanley's Eastern Races\n\nStanley's History of the Philosophers\n\nStanley's Sinai and Palestine\n\nStephens's Yucatan and Central America\n\nStrabo's Geography\n\nStrahlenberg's Description of N. and E. Europe and Asia\n\nStrange's Developement of Creation\n\nStukeley's Itinerary\n\nStukeley's Stonehenge and Abury\n\nTavernier's Voyages\n\nTaylor's Etruscan Researches\n\nTaylor's Hymns of Orpheus\n\nTaylor's Mexico and the Mexicans\n\nTaylor's Proclus\n\nTenison's Idolatry\n\nThales's Origin of Mankind\n\nThe Living Age, xx., cxxxix.\n\nThev\u00e8not's Travels into the Levant\n\nTiele's History of Ancient Religions\n\nTod's Antiquities of Rajasthan\n\nToland's History of the Druids\n\nTooke's Pantheon\n\nTransactions of the Royal Society of Literature\n\nTurnbull's Voyage Round the World\n\nTurner's History of the Anglo-Saxons\n\nTylor's Primitive Culture\n\nUlster Journal of Arch\u00e6ology\n\nUnitarian Review, Boston\n\nUniverse Displayed, iv. vols.\n\nUpham's Buddhism\n\nUrquhart's Spirit of the East\n\nVallancey's Ancient Irish Language\n\nVallancey's Bulgaria\n\nVallancey's Colec. de Rebus Hibern\n\nVancouvre's Voyage Round the World\n\nVirgil's Works\n\nVolney's Travels in Syria\n\nWait's Jewish Antiquities\n\nWait's Oriental Antiquities\n\nWakeman's Arch\u00e6ologia Hibernica\n\nWard's View of the Hindoos\n\nWaring's Monuments and Ornament\n\nWheeler's History of India\n\nWeber's Indian Literature\n\nWelsh Arch\u00e6ology\n\nWestropp's Arch\u00e6ological Handbook\n\nWilder's Ancient Symbol Worship\n\nWilkinson's Ancient Egypt\n\nWillis's Current Notes\n\nWilson's Egypt of the Past\n\nWilson's Pre-historic Annals of Scotland\n\nWormius's Danish Monuments\n\nYoung's Egyptian Antiquities\n\nXenophon Anabasis\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] \"English Forests and Forest Trees.\"\n\n[2] _Edin. Rev._, 1869.\n\n[3] See _Quar. Rev._, 114.\n\n[4] \"Symbolism.\"\n\n[5] \"Rivers of Life,\" vol. I.\n\n[6] \"Indian Antiquities.\"\n\n[7] Barlowe's \"Symbolism.\"\n\n[8] Forlong.\n\n[9] Moses Maimonides.\n\n[10] Geograph. Lib., IX.\n\n[11] Id., XVIII. 43.\n\n[12] Metam. Lib., VIII. 689.\n\n[13] Metam. Lib., VIII.\n\n[14] Theb. Lib., II. 736.\n\n[15] Ousley's \"Persia,\" vol. I.\n\n[16] Ousley, vol. I.\n\n[17] Ousley, vol. I.\n\n[18] Barlow's Symbolism.\n\n[19] Barlowe's \"Symbolism.\"\n\n[20] Oriental Fragments.\n\n[21] Lib. xv., c. 24\n\n[22] Le Mythologie des Plantes, vol. II.\n\n[23] \"Forestry Journal,\" vol. VIII.\n\n[24] \"Forestry,\" p. 132.\n\n[25] Landon's \"Arboretum.\"\n\n[26] Barlow.\n\n[27] Life by Willibrord, chap. viii.\n\n[28] Willis's Current Notes for February, 1854.\n\n[29] Percy's \"Mallet's Northern Antiquities.\"\n\n[30] Descrip. N. and E. of Europe, p. 289.\n\n\n\n\nPHALLIC SERIES\n\nCR. 8VO, VELLUM, 7/6 EACH.\n\nOnly a _very limited number_, privately printed.\n\n\nPHALLICISM.--A Description of the Worship of Lingam-Yoni in various parts\nof the World, and in different Ages, with an Account of Ancient and Modern\nCrosses, particularly of the Crux Ansata (or Handled Cross) and other\nSymbols connected with the Mysteries of Sex Worship. _Nearly out of\nprint._\n\nOPHIOLATREIA.--An Account of the Rites and Mysteries connected with the\nOrigin, Rise, and Development of Serpent Worship in various parts of the\nWorld, enriched with Interesting Traditions, and a full description of the\ncelebrated Serpent Mounds and Temples, the whole forming an exposition of\none of the phases of Phallic, or Sex Worship.\n\nPHALLIC OBJECTS, MONUMENTS AND REMAINS; Illustrations of the Rise and\nDevelopment of the Phallic Idea (Sex Worship), and its embodiment in Works\nof Nature and Art. _Etched Frontispiece._\n\nCULTUS ARBORUM.--A Descriptive Account of Phallic Tree Worship, with\nillustrative Legends, Superstitious Usages, &c.; exhibiting its Origin and\nDevelopment amongst the Eastern and Western Nations of the World, from the\nearliest to modern times.\n\n\nIN PREPARATION.\n\nFISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE as Phallic Symbols.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\nPassages in italics are indicated by _italics_.\n\nLetters with diacritical marks are not represented in this text version.\n\nFoonote 29 appears on page 92 of the text, but there is no corresponding\nmarker on the page.\n\nThe following misprints have been corrected:\n  \"enveloved\" corrected to \"enveloped\" (page 52)\n  \"acauthaceous\" corrected to \"acanthaceous\" (page 61)\n  \"medim\" corrected to \"medium\" (page 64)\n  \"neglience\" corrected to \"negligence\" (page 67)\n  \"heoric\" corrected to \"heroic\" (page 88)\n  \"respresented\" corrected to \"typo represented\" (page 91)\n\nOther than the corrections listed above, spelling inconsistencies have\nbeen retained from the original.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"Cultus Arborum: A Descriptive Account of Phallic Tree Worship","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":40857}