THE RAIN-TREE.
SOME travelers in South America, in traversing an arid and desolate tract of country,
were struck with a strange contrast. On one hand there was a barren desert, on the other a rich and luxuriant vegetation.
This remarkable contrast was due to the presence of the Tamai Caspi, or the Rain-tree. This tree often grows to the height of sixty feet, with a diameter of three feet at its base, and possesses the power of strongly attracting, absorbing, and condensing the moisture of the atmosphere.
Water is always to be seen dripping from its trunk and branches in such quantities as to convert the surrounding soil into a veritable marsh.
This tree also grows in the Canary Islands and other tropical climates, where it seems like a God-send to the poor people, who must almost perish from thirst during the dry season, were it not for this curious water supply: And what seems most remarkable of all is that during the hot season, when the streams and lakes are almost or quite dried up, this tree is most active, and sends forth abundant supplies of water. The tree represented in the picture is situated in the Canary Islands.
The natives seem to have dug a kind of reservoir around the tree to contain the water.
In this wonderful tree we see but another instance of the care of the great Father, who so carefully provides for the wants of even his humblest children, whoever and wherever they may be.