with an appropriate invocation before the food is eaten. The Bo tree is
extensively worshipped in India, and the Toolsee plant (Basil) is held
sacred to all gods--no oblation being considered sacred without its
leaves. Certain of the Chittagong hill tribes worship the bamboo,[17]
and Sir John Lubbock, quoting from Thompson's "Travels in the Himalaya,"
tells us that in the Simla hills the _Cupressus toridosa_ is regarded as
a sacred tree. Further instances might be enumerated, so general is this
form of religious belief. In an interesting and valuable paper by a
Bengal civilian--intimately acquainted with the country and
people[18]--the writer says:--"The contrast between the acknowledged
hatred of trees as a rule by the Bygas,[19] and their deep veneration
for certain others in particular, is very curious. I have seen the
hillsides swept clear of forests for miles with but here and there a
solitary tree left standing. These remain now the objects of the deepest
veneration. So far from being injured they are carefully preserved, and
receive offerings of food, clothes, and flowers from the passing Bygas,
who firmly believe that tree to be the home of a spirit." To give
another illustration[20], it appears that in Beerbhoom once a year the
whole capital repairs to a shrine in the jungle, and makes simple
offerings to a ghost who dwells in the Bela tree. The shrine consists of
three trees--a Bela tree on the left, in which the ghost resides, and
which is marked at the foot with blood; in the middle is a Kachmula
tree, and on the right a Saura tree. In spite of the trees being at
least seventy years old, the common people claim the greatest antiquity
for the shrine, and tradition says that the three trees that now mark
the spot neither grow thicker nor increase in height, but remain the
same for ever.

A few years ago Dr. George Birwood contributed to the _Athenaeum_ some
interesting remarks on Persian flower-worship. Speaking of the Victoria