growing gradually upwards as the increasing height of the tree
required augmented support. Thus, they are plainly intended to
sustain the massive crown and trunk in these crowded forests,
where lateral growth of the roots in the earth is rendered
difficult by the multitude of competitors.

The other grand forest trees whose native names we learned, were
the Moiratinga (the White or King tree), probably the same as, or
allied to, the Mora Excelsa, which Sir Robert Schomburgh
discovered in British Guiana; the Samauma (Eriodendron Samauma)
and the Massaranduba, or Cow tree. The last-mentioned is the most
remarkable. We had already heard a good deal about this tree, and
about its producing from its bark a copious supply of milk as
pleasant to drink as that of the cow. We had also eaten its fruit
in Para, where it is sold in the streets by negro market women;
and had heard a good deal of the durableness in water of its
timber. We were glad, therefore, to see this wonderful tree
growing in its native wilds. It is one of the largest of the
forest monarchs, and is peculiar in appearance on account of its
deeply-scored reddish and ragged bark. A decoction of the bark, I
was told, is used as a red dye for cloth. A few days afterwards
we tasted its milk, which was drawn from dry logs that had been
standing many days in the hot sun, at the saw-mills. It was
pleasant with coffee, but had a slight rankness when drunk pure;
it soon thickens to a glue, which is excessively tenacious, and
is often used to cement broken crockery. I was told that it was
not safe to drink much of it, for a slave had recently nearly
lost his life through taking it too freely.

In some parts of the road ferns were conspicuous objects. But I