52 VALENCIA AND PUEETO CABELLO. 



fowls, when fed upon the leaves, will have tender flesh, 

 howevei' tough it might have been otherwise. We could 

 not refrain from wishing that this tree, upon the strength 

 of the reputation of its lacteal fluid, might he widely in- 

 troduced in countries outside of the tropics. 



But the most interesting form of vegetation which 

 flourishes in the greatest abundance through these rugged 

 movmtain-wilds is the famous palo de vaca, or " cow-tree," 

 from which is obtained, when incisions are made in the 

 trunk, a milky juice, sweet and agreeable to the taste, and 

 which is considerably used by the natives, to whom it fur- 

 nishes an exceedingly nutritious food. The tree attains a 

 great height ; the coriaceous leaves are from six to ten 

 inches in length. The wood is red, very hard and durable. 

 Mr. Wallace, in enumerating the various uses to which the 

 fluid is put at Para upon the Amazons, where it grows in 

 great abundance, says that, applied fresh from the tree as 

 a glue, it is more durable than that used by carpenters ; it 

 also makes good custard. " Amid the great number of 

 curious phenomena," says Humboldt, " which I have ob- 

 served in the course of my travels, I confess there are few 

 that have made so powerful an impression on me as the 

 aspect of the cow-tree." There is, indeed, something pecu- 

 liarly impressive in this remarkable tree, which will not be 

 obliterated from the mind of the traveller by the many 

 other wonders of tlie equatorial regions that may come 

 under his observation. That there should be a tree mys- 

 teriously elaborating a substance devoid of all acidity, 

 bitterness, and the deleterious qualities usually belonging 

 to lactescent plants, and which is, moreover, a delicious 

 and wholesome aliment, is no less a remarkable fact than a 

 beneficent pi-ovision for the inhabitants of a country who 

 rely mainly upon the natural resources of the land for the 

 supplying of their wants. 



At eight A. M. we reached Trinchera, the place of our 



