On the Hya-hya, or Milk-Tree of Dcmcrara. 317 



mixed freely with the water of tlie Httle stream, and as I slept 

 that nio-ht near the spot, the next morning Mr Coachman and 

 myself drank it in warm coffee. With this it commingled 

 equally well, and lost all the viscosity before perceptible in its 

 pure state, so much so, as to appear to us incapable of being 

 distinguished from animal milk. Mr Couchman was determined, 

 he said, to use it as a substitute for milk at his htde neighbour- 

 ing woodland establishment. 



A variety of experiments, too, have since tended to confirm me 

 in my opinion, that it in no way differs in quality from the ve- 

 o-etable milk of the cow-tree. Yet it was plain that the tree was 

 not that described by Humboldt. The following is the account 

 o-iven of the Palo de Vaca in the Personal Narrative of that dis- 

 tinguished traveller:—" This fine tree rises like the broad- 

 leaved Star-Apple. Its oblong and pointed leaves, tough and 

 alternate, are marked by lateral ribs, prominent at the surface, 

 and parallel. There are some of them 10 inches long. We 

 did not see the flower."" You will observe from the specimens 

 I forward of the Hya-hya, that the leaves in no way correspond 

 with those mentioned in the description just quoted. Nor does 

 the tree, in short, bear the most distant resemblance to the 

 " broad-leaved star-apple *." 



I extract from my note-book the imperfect description taken 

 on the spot, with a few observations. " Trunk from 16 

 to 18 inches in diameter, 30 to 40 feet high, branching from 

 the top ; bark greyish colour, slightly scabrous, and about a 

 quarter of an inch thick, between which and the wood the milk 

 seemed to be secreted. The incision made by the stroke of a 

 knife into it latitudinally, or diagonally, caused it to flow freely ; 

 but when the cut was made longitudinally, little or no milk 

 exuded. The leaves elliptic, and very acuminate ; smooth, and 

 in pairs. The flower had not yet fully developed itself, though 

 the corolla was observable, and, as well as could be discerned, 

 appeared monopetalous, with five divisions in the hmb. The 

 calyx single, contiguous to the flower, and four-parted; the 

 peduncle axillary, and bearing four flowers, and sometimes 



• It is stated by Mr D. Don, in a preceding Number of this Journal (No. 

 IS, p. 171.), ihat the Palo de Vaca is a sjjecies of Brosimuni, and he proposes 

 to call it B. Galactodendron— Edit. 



