ples
and pagodas are erected beneath its shadowy boughs, where are pleasant
walks and long vistas of umbrageous canopy, effectually shielded from
the fierce rays of the tropical sun. Many Brahmins spend their entire
lives within these quiet retreats, and all ranks and classes seek
them for rest and recreation. The banian is styled also "the tree
of councils," from the prevalent custom of assembling legislators,
magistrates and savants under its protecting canopy to deliberate on
civil affairs; while all around, ensconced in every niche, are the
tutelary gods and goddesses that make up the Hindoo mythology. It
is indeed a quaint, weird spot, full of the witchery of romance and
legendary lore; and though years have passed since I last sat under
the Cubber Burr's sheltering boughs with a merry party of picnicking
maidens, now grown to womanhood, imagination still loves to roam among
its shadows, and build fairy castles within the mazy windings of the
hoary banian of Nerbudda's isle.

FANNIE R. FEUDGE.

A LOTOS OF THE NILE.

It was nine o'clock on a night of clear July starlight. The heat
of the day had been intense, and all the guests of The Willows were
assembled on the lawn, intent upon the effort of keeping cool, if such
a thing were at all possible. A hopeless effort it seemed, however,
for the heavy foliage of the trees hung quite motionless, and the
fans which were plied unceasingly made the only possible approach to
a breeze. Everything was so still that the voice of the river was
distinctly audible as it fretted and surged along its rocky bed,
distant at least a mile. The scene was full of the dim, mysterious
look which makes summer starlight so fascinating. White dresses,
shadowy faces, suggestive outlines of form and head, now and then the
glimmer of an ornament: after one had looked long enough it was even
possible to tell who was who, but at first the voices were the only
clue to recognition. Behind the group rose the house, with light
streaming from its lace-draped windows, the pictures and globe-like
lamps of the deserted drawing-room making a charming effect.

Everybody had been silent for some time--that is, for half a
minute, which seems a long time under such circumstances--when Mrs.
Lancaster's voice broke the stillness. "Oh for a whiff of mountain-air
or a sea-breeze!" she said. "I came to spend two weeks with you, dear
Mrs. Brantley, and I have spent a month--who ever _did_ leave The
Will