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Antiqua
Antiqua; Spaltensatz.
Amid the great number of curious
selves to me in the course of my travels,
I confess there are few that have so
powerfully affected my imagination, as
the aspect of the cow tree.—Whatever
relates to milk, whatever regards corn,
inspires an interest which is not merely
that of the physical knowledge of things,
but is connected with another order of
ideas and sentiments. We can scarcely
conceive how the human race could ex-
ist without farinaceous substances and
without that nourishing juice which the
breast of the mother contains, and which
is appropriated to the long feebleness of
the infant. The amylaceous matter of
corn, the object of religious veneration
among so many nations, ancient and
modern, is diffused in the seeds and de-
posited in the roots of vegetables; milk,
which serves us as an aliment, appears
to us exclusively the produce of animal
organization. Such are the impres-
sions we have received in our earliest
infancy; such is also the source of that
astonishment which seizes us at the as-
pect of the tree just described. It is
not here the solemn shades of forests,
the majestic course of rivers, the moun-
tains wrapped in eternal frosts, that
excite our emotion. A few drops of
vegetable juice recal to our minds all
the powerfulness and fecundity of na-
ture. On the barren flank of rock grows
a tree with coriaceous and dry leaves.
Its large woody roots can scarcely pene-
trate into the stone. For several
months of the year not a single shower
moistens its foliage. Its branches ap-
pear dead and dried; but when its trunk
is pierced, there flows from it a sweet
and nourishing milk. It is at the ri-
sing of the sun that this vegetable foun-
tain is most abundant. The blacks and
natives are then seen hastening from all
quarters, furnished with large bowls to
receive the milk, which grows yellow,
and thickens at its surface. Some em-
ploy their bowls under the tree itself,
others carry the juice home to their
children. We seem to see the family
of a shepherd, who distributes the milk
to his flock.
I have described the sensation which
the cow tree awakes in the mind of the
traveller, at the first view. In examin-
ing the physical properties of animal
and vegetable products, science displays
them as closely linked together; but it
strips them of what is marvellous, and
perhaps also of a part of their charms,
of what excited our astonishment.—No-
thing appears isolated; the chemical
principles that were believed to be pe-
common chain links together all organ-
ic nature.