Like the caoutchouc,
it is a native of South America; but the sap is a rich fluid that
answers for food, like milk. It is a fine-looking tree with oblong,
pointed leaves about ten inches in length and a fleshy fruit containing
one or two nuts. The sap is the most valuable part; and when incisions
are made in the trunk of the tree, there is an abundant flow of thick
milk-like sap, which is described as having an agreeable and balmv
smell. The German traveler Humboldt drank it from the shell of a
calabash, and the natives dip their bread of maize or cassava in it.
This milk is said to be very fattening; and when exposed to the air, it
thickens into a substance which the people call cheese."
"Milk and cheese from a tree!" exclaimed Malcolm. "Do you think we'd
like them as well as ours, Miss Harson?"
"No," was the reply, "I do not think we should; but if we had never
known any other kind, it would be quite a different matter, and the
traveler says that both smell and taste are agreeable. The sap, it
seems, is like curdled milk, and the natives say that they can tell,
from the thickness and color of the foliage, the trunks that yield the
most juice. This wonderful tree will be found growing on the side of a
barren rock, and its large, woody roots can scarcely penetrate into the
stone. For several months of the year not a single shower moistens its
foliage. Its branches then appear dead and dried; but when the trunk is
pierced, there flows from it a sweet and nourishing milk.
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