Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The Growth Of Its
Trunk Is So Enormous, That M. Bonpland Measured Vats Of Javillo
Wood, 14 Feet Long And 8 Wide.
These vats, made from one log of
wood, are employed to keep the guarapo, or juice of the sugar-cane,
and the molasses.
The seeds of javillo are a very active poison,
and the milk that issues from the petioles, when broken, frequently
produced inflammation in our eyes, if by chance the least quantity
penetrated under the eyelids.) and mahogany. These local
circumstances induce me to think that the mountainous savannahs of
the Cocollar and Turimiquiri owe their existence only to the
destructive custom practised by the natives of setting fire to the
woods when they want to convert the soil into pasturage. Where,
during the lapse of three centuries, grasses and alpine plants have
covered the soil with a thick carpet, the seeds of trees can no
longer germinate and fix themselves in the earth, though birds and
winds convey them continually from the distant forests into the
savannahs.
The climate of these mountains is so mild that at the farm of the
Cocollar the cotton and coffee tree, and even the sugar cane, are
cultivated with success. Whatever the inhabitants of the coasts may
allege, hoar-frost has never been found in the latitude of 10
degrees, on heights scarcely exceeding those of the Mont d'Or, or
the Puy-de-Dome. The pastures of Turimiquiri become less rich in
proportion to the elevation. Wherever scattered rocks afford shade,
lichens and some European mosses are found.
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