It is at the
rising of the sun that this vegetable fountain is most abundant. The
negroes 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 while under the tree itself; others
carry the juice home to their children."
"Isn't it funny," said Edith, laughing, "to go and get their breakfasts
from a _tree_? I wish we had some milk trees here."
"But you would not find it pleasant," replied their governess, "to have
some other things that are always found where the milk tree grows. The
intense heat and the swarms of mosquitoes and biting flies, the serpents
and jaguars and other disagreeable and dangerous creatures, make life in
that region anything but pleasant, and the curious vegetation and
delicious fruits are not worth the suffering inflicted by all these
torments."
On hearing of these drawbacks the children soon decided that their own
dear home was the best, and no longer envied the possessors even of
the cow tree.
CHAPTER XIV.
_HOME AND ABROAD: LINDEN, CAMPHOR, BEECH_.
"Now," said Miss Harson to her expectant flock, "it is to be hoped that
our foreign wanderings among such wonderful trees have not spoiled you
for home trees, as there are still a number of them which we have not
yet examined."
"No indeed!" they assured her; "they liked to hear about them all, and
they were going to try and remember everything she told them about
the trees.
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