24 
SANTAKEM. 
Chap. L 
long, glossy, dark-green leaves, fresh and succulent 
even in the most arid seasons, and white jasmine-like 
flowers, forms the greatest decoration of these solitary 
places. The bark, leaves, and leaf-stalks, yield a co- 
pious supply of milky sap, which the natives use very 
generally as plaister in local inflammations, laying the 
liquid on the skin with a brush, and covering the place 
with cotton. I have known it to work a cure in many 
cases ; but, perhaps, the good effect is attributable to 
the animal heat drawn to the place by the pad of 
cotton. The milk flows most freely after the occa- 
sional heavy rains in the intervals between the dry 
and wet seasons ; it then spurts out with great force 
from any part of the tree if hacked with a knife in 
passing. 
The appearance of the campos changes very much 
according to the season. There is not that grand uni- 
formity of aspect throughout the year which is observed 
in the virgin forest, and which makes a deeper im- 
pression on the naturalist the longer he remains in 
this country. The seasons in this part of the Amazons 
region are sharply contrasted, but the difference is not 
so great as in some tropical countries, where, during the 
dry monsoon, insects and reptiles sestivate, and the trees 
simultaneously shed their leaves. As the dry season 
advances (August, September), the grass on the campos 
withers, and the shrubby vegetation near the town 
becomes a mass of parched yellow stubble. The period, 
however, is not one of general torpidity or repose for 
animal or vegetable life. Birds certainly are not so 
numerous as in the wet season, but some kinds remain 
