STRANGE PLANTS AND THEIR WAYS. 39 



REFRESHMENT-TREES. 



1. Alexander von Humboldt first made known to 

 the civilized world, on his return from South America, the 

 remarkable qualities of the cow-tree. Of the delicious sap 

 produced by this tree for the thirsty traveler he thus writes : 

 "We were assured that the negroes on the farm, who are in 

 the habit of drinking large quantities of this vegetable milk, 

 consider it is highly nutritious ; an assertion which startled 

 me the more as almost all lactescent vegetable fluids are 

 acrid, bitter, and somewhat poisonous. Experience, how- 

 ever, proved to us during our residence at Barbula that 

 the virtues of the cow-tree bad not been exaggerated." 



2. This strange tree is an evergreen which is found in 

 the mountains of Venezuela. The sap flows freely when the 

 bark is wounded, and it is safe to drink freely, for the fluid, 

 which has the color and taste of milk, is not only cool 

 and refreshing, but is full of nutriment. The natives of 

 Venezuela all know this tree well, and find in its delicious 

 sap a substitute for both food and water in time of need. 

 Some attempt was made, indeed, at one time by the Venezu- 

 elan government to extend its growth in parts of the coun- 

 try where it was not natural, but, like all efforts of South 

 Americans which exact watchfulness and trouble, it speedily 

 died out without accomplishment. 



3. The traveler's tree of Madagascar is another example 

 of the kindly provision of nature for the requirements of 

 the human kind. This tree is very abundant throughout 

 the island, and rises from the ground with a thick, succu- 

 lent stem like that of a plantain. Long, broad leaves grow 

 from opposite sides of the stalk, so that the tree looks like 

 a huge, green, open fan. " Many of the trees," says a trav- 

 eler, "reach thirty feet from the ground to the lowest 

 leaves. I frequently counted from twenty to twenty-four 



