NEW AND BARB PLANTS. 163 



extraordinary tree fully repaid me for the/atigue and severe welting I expe- 

 rienced. The close of last month was the period of my visit; but unfortu- 

 nately, it did not prove that either of its flowering- or fruit ; however, I 

 have sent you a bottle of the milk ! some specimens of the leaves ( as well 

 preserved as circumstances would permit ;) a piece of the bark, and a sketch 

 copied from that which I took at the time. 1 should thiuk the elevation above 

 the level of the sea where this tree grows, cannot be less than four thousand 

 feet, and the temperature at eight o' clock under its spreading branches was 

 70 degrees Fahr. The forest was so densely thick and untravelled, that the 

 people who accompanied us were obliged, at almost every step, to cut away 

 for us through it with their sword-like knives, while the excessive steepness 

 and slippery state of the mountain rendered our advance both tedious and 

 dangerous. However, after a_ couple of toiling days, we reached the group 

 of sought-for trees, surrounded in all directions by others no less wonderful 

 to look upon than themselves. The natives lost no time in making a deep 

 incision into the bark of one, down to the very wood, from which burst forth 

 the Milk, white and limpid as that o<" the cow, sweet to the palate and 

 accompanied by an aromatic smell, but leaving a strong clammyness on the 

 lips, and upon the tongue, a slight bitter. In a quarter of an hour, we tilled 

 two bottles with the produce of a couple of trees ; for as our visit happened 

 to be made during the wane of the moon instead of its increase the lacteal 

 fluid did not flow so freely as it is said to do when drawn during the latter- 

 named stage. 



" The trunk of the Palo de Vaca from which the drawing was made, 

 measured somewhat more than twenty feet in circumference at about five leet 

 from the root. This colossal stem ran up to a height of sixty leet, perfect- 

 ly uninterrupted by either leaf or branch ; when its vast arms and minor 

 branches, most luxuriantly clothed with foliage, spread or! every side, fully 

 ^twenty-five or thirty feet from the trunk, and rising to an additional eleva- 

 tion of forty feet, so that this stupendous tree was quite a hundred feet high 

 in all. I saw others still larger: but the state of the weather drove us from 

 our position. The leaves, when in a fresh state, are of a deep dark and 

 polished green, nearly resembling those of the Laurel tribe, from ten to 

 sixteen inches long, and two or three inches wide. The specimens sent, 

 will enable you to form a botanical description of the foliage, as the portion 

 of bark will do of that part of the tree ; the wood, forming the body of the 

 trunk, is white, very close-grained and hard, resembling the box -wood of 

 Europe. The soil which these trees inhabit is dark and rich, and must be 

 damp or very wet all the year round. 



" 1 have been promised by one of the Indians who accompanied me that 

 he would keep a look out for the fruit of the tree and send me some, when 1 

 shall have the satisfaction of forwarding a few specimens to you. But, with 

 regard to the flower, or the flowering season of theHree, I have made enquir- 

 ies over and over again, from persons who reside in the vicinity of other 

 trees of the kind, indifferent parts of Venezuela; but they tell me that uo 

 one ever saw or beard of the Cow Tree flowering 



The imaginary statement of the tree not flowering may be accounted for by 

 the nature of the blossoms, being in all likelihood small and inconspicuous, 

 as in so many of the Urticeaj, to which Nat. Order it is probably correctly 

 referred : though whether it be a true Brosimura as Mr. Don is inclined to 

 ■oppose, or a new Genus, as Humboldt has suggested, must yet remain a 

 doubt. The leaves are large and handsome, and of a rich and somewhat 

 M'lv^ty green hue. The fruit had the outer coat so much broken, that i 

 will not venture to describe what is as faithfully represented as the nature 

 of the specimens would allow. The bark of the larger branches is sin- 

 gularly yellow, as shown in our figure. 



