“Amid the great number of curious phenomena whichhave presented themselves to me in the course of my tra-vels, I confess there are few that have so powerfully affectedmy imagination as the aspect of the cow-tree. Whateverrelates to milk, whatever regards corn, inspires an interest,which is not merely that of the physical knowledge of things,but it is connected with another order of ideas and senti-ments. We can scarcely conceive how the human racecould exist without farinaceous substances, and withoutthat nourishing juice which the breast of the mother con-tains, and which is appropriated to the long feebleness ofthe infant. The amylaceous matter of corn, the object ofreligious veneration among so many nations, ancient andmodern, is diffused in the seeds, and deposited in the rootsof vegetables: milk, which serves us as an aliment, appearsto us exclusively the produce of animal organization. Suchare the impressions we have received in our earliest infancy;such is also the source of that astonishment which seizesus at the aspect of the tree just described. It is not herethe solemn shades of forests, the majestic course of rivers,the mountains wrapped in eternal frost, that excite our emo-tion. A few drops of vegetable juice recall to our mindsall the powerfulness and fecundity of nature. On the bar-ren flank of rock grows a tree with coriaceous and dry leaves.Its large woody roots can scarcely penetrate into thestone. For several months of the year not a single showermoistens its foliage. Its branches appear dead and dried;but when the trunk is pierced, there flows from it a sweetand nourishing milk. It is at the rising of the sun thatthis vegetable fountain is most abundant. The Blacks andnatives are then seen hastening from all quarters, furnishedwith large bowls to receive the milk, which grows yellow,and thickens at its surface. Some employ their bowls underthe tree itself, others carry the juice home to their children.We seem to see the family of a shepherd, who distributesthe milk of his flock.