EATING THE MALALIS. 197 
provides you, if you first remove its head, which is a deadly poison, with 
an exquisite cream, the sweet and soporific influence of which, say the 
Brazilian Indians, lulls love asleep. For two days and nights, the 
young maiden who has tasted of it, crouching under the blossomy tree, 
feels all the more powerfully in her soul the depth of the virgin forests, 
and the mystery of those fresh glades which have never seen the sun, 
nor echoed to the step of man, nor known any intruder but the lonely 
great blue butterfly. And yet she is not alone: love quenches her 
thirst with the most delicious fruits. 
