Mr. Humboldt and his companions, in thecourse of their travels, heard an account ofa tree which grows in the valleys of Aragua,the juice of which is a nourishing milk, andwhich, from that circumstance, has receivedthe name of the cow-tree. The tree in itsgeneral aspect resembles the chrysophyllumcainito; its leaves are oblong, pointed, leathery, and alternate, marked with lateralveins projecting downwards; they are paral-lel, and are ten inches long. When incisionsare made into the trunk, it discharges abun-dantly a glutinous milk, moderately thick,without any acridness, and exhaling anagreeable balsamic odour. The travellersdrank considerable quantities of it withoutexperiencing any injurious effects; itsviscidity only rendering it rather unpleasant.The superintendant of the plantation as-sured them that the negroes acquire fleshduring the season in which the cow-treeyields the greatest quantity of milk. Whenthis fluid is exposed to the air, perhaps inconsequence of the absorption of the oxy-gen of the atmosphere, its surface becomescovered with membranes of a substance thatappears to be of a decided animal nature,yellowish, thready, and of a cheesy con-sistence. These membranes, when sepa-rated from the more aqueous part of thefluid, are almost as elastic as caoutchouc;but at the same time they are as much dis-posed to become putrid as gelatine. Thenatives give the name of cheese to the coa-gulum, which is separated by the contact ofthe air; in the course of five or six days itbecomes sour. The milk, kept for sometime in a corked phial, had deposited a littlecoagulum, and still exhaled its balsamicodour. If the recent juice be mixed withcold water, the coagulum is formed in smallquantities only; but the separation of theviscid membranes occurs when it is placedin contact with nitric acid. This remarka-ble tree seems to be peculiar to the Cordil-liere du Littoral, especially from Barbula tothe lake of Maracabo. There are likewisesome traces of it near the village of SanMateo; and, according to the account ofM. Bredmeyer, in the valley of Caucagua,three days journey to the east of the Carac-cas. This naturalist has likewise describedthe vegetable milk of the cow-tree as pos-sessing an agreeable flavour, and an aro-matic odour; the natives of Caucagua callit the milk-tree.