The Bodhi Tree of Pearl's Hill

Singapore's first prison stood on this hill, and so did its first hospital for the poor. The Bodhi tree at the top of Pearl's Hill City Park carries 6.34 metres of girth and 16.9 metres of height on NParks' heritage register, and it grows over ground that held both, which is a fair trade. The hill takes its name from Captain James Pearl, who commanded the Indiana, the ship that brought Raffles to Singapore in 1819. He liked the view enough to buy the hill and plant it with pepper. Tan Tock Seng's hospital for destitute Chinese labourers opened on its slope in the 1840s and the colonial gaol followed, both long since buried under the reservoir and the police blocks that took their place. Ficus religiosa is the species the Buddha is traditionally said to have sat beneath, and it is sacred to Buddhists and Hindus alike. The leaves are the giveaway: heart-shaped, drawn out into a long tail that sheds monsoon rain and sets the whole crown trembling in almost no wind. This is not the Bodhi tree most people in Singapore mean. That one grows at the Jin Long Si Temple and has had its own long public fight over the land around it. This is a different individual on a different hill, and it draws no crowd at all. NParks records no planting date, so its age is unknown.