Marian was delighted, and assured Sambo that his sugar would answer very
well indeed. "If we could find some tea-plants, we might have a
pleasanter beverage for breakfast than either cold water or palm-wine,"
observed Marian; "though, to be sure, we should have no milk to mix with
it."

"I don't despair of finding that," said Uncle Paul; "indeed, I can
promise to bring you some fresh milk directly you can produce the tea.
I only yesterday caught sight of the massaranduba, or cow-tree; and as
it is not far off, I will this evening bring you a bowlful of the juice,
which, when fresh, you will be unable to distinguish from the finest
milk."

Marian was of course very eager to see this wonderful vegetable milk;
and in the evening Uncle Paul set out with a large bowl. Sambo and I
accompanied him, Sambo carrying an axe. On going some distance through
the forest, we saw a tree with deeply-scored reddish and rugged bark.

"Surely nothing like white juice can come out of so rough a skin," I
observed to Uncle Paul.

"Wait till Sambo has put his axe through it.--Cut hereabouts, Sambo," he
said, pointing to a part of the trunk under which he could hold the
bowl.

The black did as directed, and made a deep incision, following it up by
other cuts.

"That's enough," exclaimed Uncle Paul; and having, as he spoke, placed
the bowl beneath the cut, there literally gushed forth a stream of the
purest white milk, so rapidly that the bowl was quickly filled. I smelt
it and tasted it; and though it might have been said to be a little
coarse, I certainly should have supposed it to be pure milk. Uncle Paul
cautioned us not to drink much, as, swallowed in any considerable
quantity, it is looked upon as unwholesome.

We returned with the bowl full, Sambo having carried it on his head.
Marian was of course delighted with it, though she could not give us
tea. Kallolo had brought her a berry, however, which he assured her was
perfectly wholesome, and which, when pounded and boiled, afforded a fair
substitute for coffee. I suspect, indeed, that it was wild coffee, and
that the original seed had been brought to the spot by some bird.

We had thus secured a very palatable beverage, and had obtained milk and
sugar to mix with it; but my father still had a fancy for procuring tea,
or at all events a substitute for it.

"If we find any, it will be a satisfaction when we drink it to remember
that it is not taxed," he observed, "and tha