THE COW TREE.

To the Editor of the Yorkshire Gazelte.

Sir,—As you seem at all times willing to bring into notice the auxiliaries of divine revelation and religion, the following account of a plant which grows in the equinoctial regions of the new world, as an undeniable proof of design in the creation, may not be unacceptable to your numerous readers.— Humboldt says “I confess, that among the great number of curious phenomena, I have observed in the course of my travels, there are few which have made a stronger impression on my mind than the Cow Tree.

All that has any connection with milk, all that relates to cereals, inspires us with an interest which is not simply that of the knowledge of causes, but which is connected with another series of ideas and feelings.

We cannot without difficulty believe, that the human species can exist without farinaceous substances, nor without the nutritious milk contained in the bosom of a mother, which is intended for the long weakness of infancy.

The starchy nature of grains, an object of religious veneration among so many ancient and modern nations, is disseminated in the seeds, and deposited in the roots of vegetables; milk appears to be the production of animal organization.

Such are the impressions we have received in childhood, and such is the cause of the astonishment we feel at the sight of the tree we are going to describe.—On the barren declivities of a rock grows a tree, whose leaves are dry and coriaceous.

Its thick ligneous roots scarcely enter the rock; for several months in the year rain scarcely waters its fan-shaped leaves.

The branches appear dry and dead, but when an incision is made in the trunk, a sweet and nutritious milk flows from it; it is at the rising of the sun that the vegetable liquid runs most abundantly.— Then the natives and negroes are seen to receive the milk, which becomes yellow and thickish at the surface.

Some empty their vessels under the same tree; others carry them to their children.

It is like a shepherd distributing to his family the milk of his flock.”—Humboldt, Voyage aux Regions Equinoxiales du Nouveau Continent.

Another paper shall furnish your readers with the peculiar qualities and analysis of this vegetable milk.

Remaining yours, &c. T. R.

Huggate, July 2, 1825.