for the snake-like roots that extend in contorted masses around the base of the trunk. The small fruit is unfit for food.
Ficus bengalensis, or the Banyan, wild in parts of northern India, but generally planted throughout the country, has a woody stem, branching to a height of 70 to 100 ft. and of vast extent with heart-shaped entire leaves terminating in acute points. Every branch from the main body throws out its own roots, at first in small tender fibres, several yards from the ground; but these continually grow thicker until they reach the surface, when they strike in, increase to large trunks, and become parent trees, shooting out new branches from the top, which again in time suspend their roots, and these, swelling into trunks, produce other branches, the growth continuing as long as the earth contributes her sustenance. On the bank’s of the Nerbudda stood a celebrated tree of this kind, which is supposed to be that described by Nearchus, the admiral of Alexander the Great. This tree once covered an area so immense, that it was known to shelter no fewer than 7000 men, and though much reduced in size by the destructive power of the floods, the remainder was described by James Forbes (1749–1819), in his Oriental Memoirs (1813–1815) as nearly 2000 ft. in circumference, while the trunks large and small exceeded 3000 in number. The tree usually grows from seeds dropped by birds on other trees. The leaf-axil of a palm forms a frequent receptacle for their growth, the palm becoming ultimately strangled by the growth of the fig, which by this time has developed numerous daughter stems which continue to expand and cover ultimately a large area. The famous tree in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, began its growth at the end of the 18th century on a sacred date-palm. In 1907 it had nearly 250 aerial roots, the parent trunk was 42 ft. in girth, and its leafy crown had a circumference of 857 ft.; and it was still growing vigorously. Both this tree and F. religiosa cause destruction to buildings, especially in Bengal, from seeds dropped by birds germinating on the walls. The tree yields an inferior rubber, and a coarse rope is prepared from the bark and from the aerial roots.
FIGARO, a famous dramatic character first introduced on the
stage by Beaumarchais in the Barbier de Séville, the Mariage
de Figaro, and the Folle Journée. The name is said to be an old
Spanish and Italian word for a wigmaker, connected with the
verb cigarrar, to roll in paper. Many of the traits of the character
are to be found in earlier comic types of the Roman and Italian
stage, but as a whole the conception was marked by great
originality; and Figaro soon, seized the popular imagination,
and became the recognized representative of daring, clever and
nonchalant roguery and intrigue. Almost immediately after its
appearance, Mozart chose the Marriage of Figaro as the subject
of an opera, and the Barber of Seville was treated first by Paisiello,
and afterwards in 1816 by Rossini. In 1826 the name of the
witty rogue was taken by a journal which continued till 1833
to be one of the principal Parisian periodicals, numbering among
its contributors such men as Jules Janin, Paul Lacroix, Léon
Gozlan, Alphonse Karr, Dr Veron, Jules Sandeau and George
Sand. Various abortive attempts were made to restore the
Figaro during the next twenty years; and in 1854 the efforts of
M. de Villemessant were crowned with success (see Newspapers:
France).
See Marc Monnier, Les Aieux de Figaro (1868); H. de Villemessant, Mémoires d’un journaliste (1867).
FIGEAC, a town of south-western France, capital of an
arrondissement in the department of Lot, 47 m. E.N.E. of
Cahors on the Orléans railway. Pop. (1906) 4330. It is enclosed
by an amphitheatre of wooded and vine-clad hills, on the right
bank of the Célé, which is here crossed by an old bridge. It is
ill-built and the streets are narrow and dirty; on the outskirts
shady boulevards have taken the place of the ramparts by which
it was surrounded. The town is very rich in old houses of the
13th and 14th centuries; among them may be mentioned
the Hôtel de Balène, of the 14th century, used as a prison.
Another house, dating from the 15th century, was the birthplace
of the Egyptologist J. F. Champollion, in memory of whom the
town has erected an obelisk. The principal church is that of
St Sauveur, which once belonged to the abbey of Figeac. It
was built at the beginning of the 12th century, but restored
later; the façade in particular is modern. Notre-Dame du Puy,
in the highest part of the town, belongs to the 12th and 13th
centuries. It has no transept and its aisles extend completely
round the interior. The altar-screen is a fine example of carved
woodwork of the end of the 17th century. Of the four obelisks
which used to mark the limits of the authority of the abbots
of Figeac, those to the south and the west of the town remain.
Figeac is the seat of a subprefect and has a tribunal of first instance,
and a communal college. Brewing, tanning, printing,
cloth-weaving and the manufacture of agricultural implements
are among the industries. Trade is in cattle, leather, wool, plums,
walnuts and grain, and there are zinc mines in the neighbourhood.
Figeac grew up round an abbey founded by Pippin the Short in the 8th century, and throughout the middle ages it was the property of the monks. At the end of the 16th century the lordship was acquired by King Henry IV.’s minister, the duke of Sully, who sold it to Louis XIII. in 1622.
FIGUEIRA DA FOZ, or Figueira, a seaport of central
Portugal, in the district of Coimbra, formerly included in the
province of Beira; on the north bank of the river Mondego,
at its mouth, and at the terminus of the Lisbon-Figueira and
Guarda-Figueira railways. Pop. (1900) 6221. Figueira da Foz
is an important fishing-station, and one of the headquarters of
the coasting trade in grain, fruit, wine, olive oil, cork and coal;
but owing to the bar at the mouth of the Mondego large ships
cannot enter. Glass is manufactured, and the city attracts many
visitors by its excellent climate and sea-bathing. A residential
suburb, the Bairro Novo, exists chiefly for their accommodation,
to the north-west of the old town. Figueira is connected by
a tramway running 4 m. N. W. with Buarcos (pop. 5033) and
with the coal-mines of Cape Mondego. Lavos (pop. 7939), on
the south bank of the Mondego, was the principal landing-place
of the British troops which came, in 1808, to take part in the
Peninsular War. Figueira da Foz received the title and privileges
of city by a decree dated the 20th of September 1882.
FIGUERAS, a town of north-eastern Spain, in the province
of Gerona, 14 m. S. of the French frontier, on the Barcelona-Perpignan
railway. Pop. (1900) 10,714. Figueras is built at
the foot of the Pyrenees, and on the northern edge of El
Ampurdan, a fertile and well-irrigated plain, which produces wine,
olives and rice, and derives its name from the seaport of Ampurias,
the ancient Emporiae. The castle of San Fernando, 1 m. N.W., is
an irregular pentagonal structure, built by order of Ferdinand VI.
(1746–1759), on the site of a Capuchin convent. Owing to its
situation, and the rocky nature of the ground over which a
besieger must advance, it is still serviceable as the key to the
frontier. It affords accommodation for 16,000 men and is well
provided with bomb-proof cover. In 1794 Figueras was surrendered
to the French, but it was regained in 1795. During
the Peninsular War it was taken by the French in 1808, recaptured
by the Spaniards in 1811, and retaken by the French
in the same year. In 1823, after a long defence, it was once more
captured by the French. An annual pilgrimage from Figueras
to the chapel of Nuestra Señora de Requesens, 15 m. N., commemorates
the deliverance of the town from a severe epidemic
of fever in 1612.
FIGULUS, PUBLIUS NIGIDIUS (c. 98–45 B.C.), Roman
savant, next to Varro the most learned Roman of the age. He
was a friend of Cicero, to whom he gave his support at the time
of the Catilinarian conspiracy (Plutarch, Cicero, 20; Cicero,
Pro Sulla, xiv. 42). In 58 he was praetor, sided with Pompey
in the Civil War, and after his defeat was banished by Caesar,
and died in exile. According to Cicero (Timaeus, 1), Figulus
endeavoured with some success to revive the doctrines of Pythagoreanism.
With this was included mathematics, astronomy
and astrology, and even the magic arts. According to Suetonius
(Augustus, 94) he foretold the greatness of the future emperor
on the day of his birth, and Apuleius (Apologia, 42) records
that, by the employment of “magic boys” (magici pueri), he
