Amid the great number of curious phenomena which have presented themselves to me in the course of my travels, there are few which have so powerfully affected my imagination as the aspect of the cow-tree. On the barren flank of a rock grows a tree, with coriaceous and dry leaves; its large woody roots can scarcely penetrate into the stone; for several months in the year not a single shower moistens its foliage; its branches appear dead and dried; but when the trunk is pierced, there flows from it a sweet nourishing milk. It is at the rising of the sun that this vegetable fountain 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 empty their bowls near the tree itself, others carry the juice home to their children. We seem to behold the family of a shepherd who distributes the milk of his flock. --Humboldt.