Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/38

 long, glossy, dark-green leaves, fresh and succulent even in the most arid seasons, and white jasmine-like flowers, forms the greatest decoration of these solitary places. The bark, leaves, and leaf-stalks, yield a copious supply of milky sap, which the natives use very generally as plaister in local inflammations, laying the liquid on the skin with a brush, and covering the place with cotton. I have known it to work a cure in many cases; but, perhaps, the good effect is attributable to the animal heat drawn to the place by the pad of cotton. The milk flows most freely after the occasional heavy rains in the intervals between the dry and wet seasons; it then spurts out with great force from any part of the tree if hacked with a knife in passing.

The appearance of the campos changes very much according to the season. There is not that grand uniformity of aspect throughout the year which is observed in the virgin forest, and which makes a deeper impression on the naturalist the longer he remains in this country. The seasons in this part of the Amazons region are sharply contrasted, but the difference is not so great as in some tropical countries, where, during the dry monsoon, insects and reptiles æstivate, and the trees simultaneously shed their leaves. As the dry season advances (August, September), the grass on the campos withers, and the shrubby vegetation near the town becomes a mass of parched yellow stubble. The period, however, is not one of general torpidity or repose for animal or vegetable life. Birds certainly are not so numerous as in the wet season, but some kinds remain