Amid the great number of curious phenomena which havepresented themselves to me in the course of my travels, I con-fess there are few that have so powerfully affected my imagi-nation, as the aspect of the cow tree—Whatever regards corn,inspires an interest, which is not merely that of the physicalknowledge of things, but is connected with another order ofideas and sentiments. We can scarcely conceive how the hu-man race could exist without farinaceous substances, and with-out that nourishing juice which the breast of the mother con-tains, and which is appropriated to the long feebleness of theinfant. The amylaceous matter of corn, the object of re-ligious veneration among so many nations, ancient and modern,is diffused in the seeds and deposited in the roots of vegetables—milk, which serves us as an aliment, appears to us exclu-sively the produce of animal organization. Such are the im-pressions we have received in our earliest infancy; such is al-so the source of that astonishment which seizes us at the aspectof the tree just described. It is not here the solemn shades offorests, the majestic course of rivers, the mountains wrappedin eternal frosts, that excite our emotion. A few drops of veg-etable juice recal to our minds all the powerfulness and fecun-dity of nature. On the barren flank of a rock grows a treewith coriaceous and dry leaves. Its large woody roots canscarcely penetrate into the stone. For several months of theyear not a single shower moistens its foliage. Its branches ap- pear dead and dried; but when its trunk is pierced, thereflows from it a sweet and nourishing milk. It is at the risingof the sun that this vegetable fountain is most abundant. Theblacks and natives are then seen hastening from all quarters;furnished with large bowls to receive the milk, which growsyellow, and thickens at its surface. Some employ their bowlsunder the tree itself, others carry the juice home to their chil-dren. We seem to see the family of a shepherd, who distrib-utes the milk to his flock.