Page:The fairy tales of science.djvu/274

234 greatly resembles the almond in flavour, but is much more tender and delicious. It is generally cut into pieces, boiled, and served up with meat.

"To obtain this small portion," says Dr. Lankaster, "borne on the pinnacle of the tree, and hidden from the eye of man, the axe is applied to the stately trunk, and this majestic lord of the mountain top is laid low, to furnish a small quantity of vegetable matter, which is eaten like cauliflower, and which receives its distinctive name from our lowly cabbage. Surely this rivals the tales handed down to us of Roman epicurism!"

The reader has doubtless heard of the cow-tree of South America, which yields an abundant supply of milk to the Indian of the Cordilleras, and flourishes at a vast height amid arid mountains where no cattle can pasture. This wonderful plant has been described by Humboldt with his characteristic spirit and accuracy. "On the side of a thirsty rock," says the great traveller, "grows a tree whose leaves are dry and husky. Its large roots penetrate with difficulty through the stony soil. During many months of the year not a shower waters its foliage; the branches appear withered and dead; but when its trunk is pierced, a sweet and nourishing milk flows from the wound. It is at the rising of the sun that this vegetable aliment is most plentiful. The natives and the black slaves then gather together from all parts with large wooden vessels to catch the milk, which as it flows becomes