A good tree will give ninety
gallons, and all this must have been contained in the vessels of
the apparently dry trunk. It is said that the sap flows much more
quickly on those days when the sun is powerful; and likewise, that
it is absolutely necessary to take care, in cutting down the tree,
that it should fall with its head upwards on the side of the hill;
for if it falls down the slope, scarcely any sap will flow;
although in that case one would have thought that the action would
have been aided, instead of checked, by the force of gravity. The
sap is concentrated by boiling, and is then called treacle, which
it very much resembles in taste.
We unsaddled our horses near the spring, and prepared to pass the
night. The evening was fine, and the atmosphere so clear that the
masts of the vessels at anchor in the bay of Valparaiso, although
no less than twenty-six geographical miles distant, could be
distinguished clearly as little black streaks. A ship doubling the
point under sail appeared as a bright white speck. Anson expresses
much surprise, in his voyage, at the distance at which his vessels
were discovered from the coast; but he did not sufficiently allow
for the height of the land and the great transparency of the air.
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