104 ] HE OOW 'i i:ii:. 



of La Trinchera. Next to the Bpringa of (Jrijino, in Ja 

 pan, the waters of La Trinchera are the hottest in the 

 world. 1 1 imil »t »lt it and Bonpland breakfasted near them, 

 and found that eggs plunged into the water boiled in 1- 

 than four minutes. The heat became .-tilling aa they ap- 

 proached'the coast A reddish vapour filled the horizon. 

 It was near sunset, and the breeze was not yet stirring. 

 The river of hot water, along the banks of which they 

 passed, became deeper. A crocodile, more than nine feet 

 lung, lay dead on the strand. Humboldt wished to ex- 

 amine its teeth, and the inside of its mouth; but having 

 been exposed to the sun for several weeks, it exhaled a 

 smell so let id that he was obliged to relinquish -his design 

 and remount his horse. 



Between Porto CaDello and the valleys of* Aragua they 

 saw a remarkable tree. They had heard, several weeks 

 before, ol'a tret-, the Bap of which was a nourishing milk. 

 It was called 'the cow-tree'; and they were assured 

 that the negroes, who drank plentifully of this vegetable 

 milk, considered it a wholesome aliment. All the milky 

 juices of plants being acrid, bitter, and more or less 

 poisonous, this account appeared to them very extraordi- 

 nary; but they found by experience during their stay in 

 the neighbourhood, that the virtues of this tree had not 

 been exaggerated. It rose like the broad-leaved star- 

 apple. Its oblong and pointed leaves, rough and alter- 

 nate, were marked by lateral ribs, prominent at the 

 lower surface ;tnd parallel. Some of them were ten 

 inches Ion--. They did not see the flower: the fruit was 

 somewhat fleshy, and contained one and sometimes two 

 nuts. When incisions were made in the trunk it yielded 

 an abundance of glutinous milk, tolerably thick, devoid 



