' [W. H. S.] The quotation is from _A Journey to the Western
Islands of Scotland_.
The observations in the text apply largely to the settled Hindoo
villages, as well as to the forest tribes.
2. _Ficus religiosa_ is the Linnaean name for the 'pipal'. Other
botanists call it _Urostigma religiosum_. In the original edition the
botanical name is erroneously given as _Ficus indicus_. The _Ficus
indica_ (_F. Bengalensis_, or _Urostigma B._) is the banyan. A story
is current that the traders of a certain town begged the magistrate
to remove a pipal-tree which he had planted in the market-place,
because, so long as it remained, business could not be conducted.
They knew 'the value of a lie'.
3. The red cotton, or silk-cotton, tree, when in spring covered with
its huge magnolia-shaped scarlet blossoms, is one of the most
magnificent objects in nature. Its botanical name is _Salmalia
malabarica_ (_Bombax malabaricum; B. heptaphyllum_). This is the tree
referred to in the text. The white silk-cotton tree (_Eriodendron
anfractuosum; Bombax 'pentandrum; Ceiba pentandra; Gossampinus
Rumphii_) has a more southern habitat.
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