METEOROLOGY. 221 



miles west of Tarmero, right in the middle of the road, the famous 

 " Zamanijf," an enormous tree, so well described hy Alexander V. 

 Humboldt. Its heal, formed by enormous horizontal branches, is tbe 

 most remarkable part of this giant of trees. A section of its head 

 would present a shape as shown in the marginal figure. 



I measured the head in its greatest diame- 

 ter from E «E. to W.NW. most careiully, 

 and found it to be 206 feet 11 inches, English. 



Fifty-seven years ago it was found by ' — ^ 



Humboldt to measure in its greatest diameter 192 feet, Fr,ench mea- 

 sure, which would be equal to 204.48 feet, English. Hence, it follows 

 that this tree has within the last 57 years increased the horizontal 

 diameter of its head only by 2 feet 5 inches, English. The branches 

 are loaded with a wonderful mass of epiphytes and parasites ; and it 

 seems surprising that branches of nearly 100 feet in length, standing 

 horizontally out from the trunk, can support for centuries, besides 

 their own astonishing weight, such an extra load of heavy plants as 

 Bromeliaceai, Orchideje, Cactese, Loranthacefe, Piperaceee, &c. 



This extraordinary tree is but thinly covered with leaves ; it looks 

 as if it lacks vigor to issue new slender branchlets, for its ultimate 

 branchlets are old, short, thick, and of stunted growth. 



Setting out from Fetaquire, (a place nearly as high as the colony,) 

 on the 8th of February, in an excursion towards the sea coast^ my at- 

 tention was directed to some coioti^ees. The space over which they 

 were distributed was but very limited in the direction north and 

 south, but extended more towards east and west, and was about 

 3,500 feet above the sea Their external appearance, the shape of the 

 truok and leaves, agreed exactly with the description givea by Alex- 

 ander V. Humboldt. Most of them wore trees of 1 to 1^ foot in 

 diameter, but very tall. I also found some younger ones of 5 inches 

 diameter. In seven or eight of these trees of diti'erent age and di- 

 mensions, I made incisions, to see the milk flow. Although it was 

 about the same season of the year when Mr, A. V. Humboldt saw 

 the cow- tree between Valencia and Puerto Cabelio, I never could elicit 

 from then much more than 1 or 2 drops in a second of time. There 

 was not much difference in the flow of milk between the larger and 

 the smaller trees ; and if ever I was disappointed in my expectations I 

 certainly was on this occasion as to the quantity of milk. The milk 

 has an agreeable, mild, rather rich taste, and becomes somewhat sticky 

 between the fingers. People who live not far off, and have tried these 

 cow-trees in different years, do not praise much their milk-yielding 

 qualities. The cow-trees grow in the midst of shady, humid forests, 

 at an elevation of about 3,000 or 4,000 feet, along the sea-fronting 

 declivities of the high mountain range, stretching from east to west 

 along the northern coast of Venezuela. I have neither seen the fruit 

 nor the flowers of this tree ; but in comparing its leaves with leaves of 

 plants in my herbarium, I find the closest resemblance in shape, 

 structure and venation with some species of fig-trees. The wood is 

 white and of considerable hardness. 



I passed the night in the midst of an immense forest^ on a thin 

 layer of dried grass, in a small, uninhabited^ open shed, (a plantain 



