380 



and Portugueze geographers, and the uncertainty of the po- 

 sitions which served as points of departure, threw great con- 

 fusion on this determination of the boundaries. The court 

 of Madrid, wearied of the expenoe and delay, dissolved the 

 commission in 1801 5 and some years afterwards, the mili- 

 tary occupation of the cisplatine province by the Portugueze, 

 put an eno* for a long time to the discussions respecting the 

 longitude, and the dilatory exceptions of diplomacy. 



Note G. 



In making known to the learned of Europe the physical 

 properties of the cow-tree (see above, Vol. iv, p. 212, 226, 

 261 ; Vol. vi, p. 211), I had compared its nourishing milk, 

 not with the juice of plants that abound in caoutchouc, like 

 the juice of the Hevea, but with the milk of the Papayer. I 

 had tried some chemical experiments on the latter, which 

 appeared to me a strongly animal ized substance. Two of 

 my friends., MM. Boussingault and Rivero, whose import- 

 ant labours I have already had occasion to mention (Vol. vi, 

 p. 219, and 253), and who are much better versed in 

 chemistry than 1 was at the period of my voyage, have re- 

 cently made the chemical composition of the juice of the 

 Pa$o de Vaca, completely known. The following is an ex- 

 tract of the analysis sent to me by those chemists in a letter 

 from Maracay (between Caraccas and Nueva Valencia), dated 

 February 13th, 1823. 



i' The milk," says M. Boussingault, " which we have ana- 

 lized at your desire, is produced by the Palo de Leche, or the 

 Vaca. This tree grows in abundance on the mountains that 

 command Perequito, situated north-west of Maracay. This 

 vegetable milk possesses the same physical properties as that 

 of the cow, with this difference only that it is a little more 

 slimy. It has also the same taste, but its chemical proper- 



