CHAPTER II.

The valuable species of Chinchona-trees--their history, their discoverers, and their forests. I.--THE LOXA REGION, AND ITS _CROWN BARKS_. THE region around Loxa, on the southern frontier of the modern republic of Ecuador, is the original home of the Chinchona, and nearly in the centre of its latitudinal range of growth. On the lofty grass-covered slopes of the Andes, around the little town of Loxa, and in the sheltered ravines and dense forests, those precious trees were found which first made known to the world the healing virtues of Peruvian bark. They were most plentifully met with in the forests of Uritusinga, Rumisitana, Cajanuma, Boqueron, Villonaco, and Monje, all within short distances of Loxa. Linnæus had named these trees _Chinchona officinalis_; but when Humboldt and Bonpland examined them, the discovery of other species yielding medicinal bark had rendered the name inappropriate, and they very properly re-christened them, after the distinguished Frenchman who had originally described them, _Chinchona Condaminea_. Humboldt says that they grow on mica slate and gneiss, from 6000 to 8000 feet above the sea, with a mean temperature between 60° and 65° Fahr. In his time the tree was cut down in its first flowering season, or in the fourth or seventh of its age, according as it had sprung from a vigorous root-shoot, or from a seed. He describes the luxuriance of the vegetation to be such that the younger trees, only six inches in diameter, often attain from fifty-three to sixty-four English feet in height. "This beautiful tree," he continues, "which is adorned with leaves above five inches long and two broad, growing in dense forests, seems always to aspire to rise above its neighbours. As its upper branches wave to and fro in the wind, their red and shining foliage produces a strange and peculiar effect, recognisable from a great distance."[36] It varies much in the shape of the leaves, according to the altitude at which it grows, and bark-collectors themselves would be deceived if they did not know the tree by the glands, so long unobserved by botanists. The _C. Condaminea_ described by Humboldt is the same as the _C. Uritusinga_ of Pavon. It once yielded great quantities of thick trunk bark, but, owing to reckless felling through a course of years, it is now almost exterminated, and its bark is rarely met with in commerce. The distinguished botanist Don Francisco Caldas examined the chinchona forests of Loxa after Humboldt, between 1803 and 1809. He says that the famous quina-tree of Loxa grows in the forests of Uritusinga and Cajanuma, at a height of from 6200 to 8200 feet above the sea, in a temperature of 41° to 72° Fahr.; but that it is only found between the rivers Zamora and Cachiyacu.[37] He describes the tree as from thirty to forty-eight feet high, with three or more stems growing from the same root; the leaves as lanceolate, shining on both sides, with veins a rosy colour, a short and tender pubescence on the under side when young, and when past maturity a bright scarlet colour; the bark black when exposed to the sun and wind, a brownish colour when closed in by other trees, and always covered with lichens;[38] and the rock on which the trees grow, a micaceous schist. Don Francisco José de Caldas, a native of New Granada, was one of the most eminent scientific men that South America has yet produced. He was associated with Mutis in the botanical expedition of New Granada; he explored the chinchona region as far as Loxa; and thus takes his place as one of those to whom we are indebted for throwing light on the nature of the trees yielding Peruvian bark. Caldas was born at Popayan in the year 1770; and, from early youth, devoted himself to the pursuits of science with untiring energy, especially studying botany, mathematics, meteorology, and physical geography. He constructed his own barometer and sextant, and, ignorant of the methods adopted in Europe, he discovered the way of ascertaining altitudes by a boiling-point thermometer. He has left many memoirs on botanical and other subjects behind him, and his style is always animated, clear, and interesting; but many of the productions of this remarkable man are still in manuscript,[39] and others are lost to us for ever. Above all, it is to be regretted that his botanical chart of the chinchona genus, which he promised in one of his memoirs, has never seen the light. After the declaration of independence Caldas was nominated by the Congress at Bogota to publish the works of his friend the botanist Mutis. When the brutal Spanish General Morillo entered Bogota in June 1816, he perpetrated a series of savage massacres, in which more than 600 of the most distinguished men in the country fell victims. Among them was Caldas, who was shot through the back on the 30th of October 1816.[40] The Spanish botanists Ruiz and Pavon also examined the chinchona-trees of Loxa; and the latter described two species, _C. Uritusinga_, named from the mountain on which it was once most abundant, and _C. Chahuarguera_, so called from a fancied resemblance of the bark to a pair of breeches (_huara_ in Quichua) made from the fibre of the American aloe (_chahuar_). To these the botanist Tafalla added the _C. crispa_. These three species are all included in Humboldt's _C. Condaminea_, which is readily known by the little pits, bordered with hairs, at the axils of the veins on the under side of the leaf. It would appear that at one period of growth these little pits or scrobicules are wanting, but when the plant is in full vigour they are markedly prominent. The _C. Chahuarguera_[41] is described by Pavon as growing from eighteen to twenty-four feet in height; although now the trees, which yield the Loxa bark of commerce, do not attain a height of more than four to nine feet. It is met with on the grassy open crests of mountain ridges, in light sandy soil interspersed with rocks, amongst shrubs and young plants. The barks of Loxa were called _crown barks_, because they were reserved for the exclusive use of the royal pharmacy at Madrid; and they originally sold at Panama for five and six dollars, and at Seville for twelve dollars the pound; but in later times they were much adulterated, and the price fell to one dollar the pound. The _C. Chahuarguera_ is the _rusty crown bark_ of commerce,[42] and the _C. crispa_ is the _quina fina de Loxa_ or _crespilla negra_ of the natives. A parcel of it has quite recently sold at a higher price than _Calisaya_ quills. With this _rusty crown bark_ are mixed larger quills particularly rich in the alkaloid called chinchonidine.[43] The _C. Uritusinga_ grew to the height of a lofty forest tree, but it is now nearly exterminated. The leaves assume a red colour before they fall, acquiring the most beautiful tints, and the tree is one of the finest in those forests.[44] It is said that there is a great difference in the bark, according as it is grown on the sides of mountains most exposed to the morning or evening sun; and its position is believed to have a great influence on the quality of its alkaloids. The usual yield of the large quills is 3.5 to 3.6 per cent.[45] The bark-collectors of Loxa are said to show some little forethought, a quality which is entirely wanting in most of their fraternity. To save the trees they occasionally cut off the whole of the bark, with the exception of one long strip, which gradually replaces its loss; and the second cutting is called _cascarilla resecada_. This practice was in use in the days of the botanist Ruiz, who protested against it, and declared that it was very injurious to the trees, many having been destroyed by it.[46] Later accounts, however, show that the bark-collectors of Loxa are as thoughtlessly destructive as those in other parts of South America. They often pull up the roots, while the annual burning of the slopes, and the continual cropping of the young shoots by cattle, assist the work of destruction.[47] It is, therefore, well that the _C. Chahuarguera_ and _C. Uritusinga_, the earliest known and among the most valuable of the chinchona-trees, should have been saved from extinction by timely introduction into India. The annual export of Loxa bark, from the port of Payta, is from 800 to 1000 cwts. II.--THE "RED-BARK" REGION, ON THE WESTERN SLOPES OF CHIMBORAZO. The species yielding "red bark," the richest and most important of all the Chinchonæ, is found in the forests on the western slopes of Mount Chimborazo, along the banks of the rivers Chanchan, Chasuan, San Antonio, and their tributaries. So early as 1738 Condamine spoke of "red bark" (_cascarilla colorada_) as being of superior quality;[48] and Pavon sent home specimens of the "red bark of Huaranda," and named the species _C. succirubra_. Some of these are now in the British Museum; and in the collection of Ruiz and Pavon, in the botanical gardens at Madrid, I found capsules, flowers, and leaves marked "_cascarilla colorada de los cerros de San Antonio_." In 1857 Dr. Klotzsch, an eminent German botanist, read a paper at Berlin,[49] elaborately describing the "red bark" as a product of _C. succirubra_, from a very good specimen of Pavon's in the Berlin Museum. Mr. Howard has also received a specimen from Alausi, and he is inclined to the belief that there are several varieties of _C. succirubra_, and one or two allied species, as yet undescribed.[50] Much light was thrown upon the history of this valuable species by Mr. Spruce, when he penetrated into the forests to collect seeds and plants for transmission to India in 1860. Though little was known of the tree until quite lately, there was never any doubt concerning the value of the bark. In 1779 a Spanish ship from Lima, bound to Cadiz, was captured off Lisbon by the 'Hussar' frigate, and her cargo consisted chiefly of "red bark," part of which was imported into England. In 1785 and 1786 Ruiz states that the collectors began to gather the bark of _C. succirubra_, and sell it at Guayaquil, and from that time it continued to be found in the European markets. It contains a larger proportion of alkaloids than any other kind, amounting to as much as from 3 to 4 per cent. of the substance of the bark, and of this a fair share is quinine. Fine samples yield 3.9 per cent., selling at 8_s._ 9_d._ per lb.; and the quill bark from the smaller branches 3.6 per cent.[51] Mr. Howard has recently procured 8.5 per cent. of alkaloids from a specimen of "red bark." A large supply of plants of this species is flourishing in India and Ceylon, and, from the richness of the species, the comparatively low elevation at which it thrives, and its hardy nature, it may be expected to become a cultivated plant of great value and importance. In 1857 the export of bark from the port of Guayaquil, the place of shipment for the _C. succirubra_, amounted to 7006 quintals, valued at 23,353_l._[52] In 1849-50 Dr. Weddell gives the amount at 1042 quintals. III.--THE NEW-GRANADA REGION. The importance of the chinchona-trees was fully established in the middle of the last century, and, Don Miguel de Santistevan, the director of the mint at Bogota, having addressed a memorial on the bark trade (_estanco de cascarilla_) to the Viceroy Marquis of Villar in 1753, the attention of the Spanish Government was seriously turned to the subject. When the Viceroy Don Pedro Mesia de la Cerda, Marquis de la Vega de Armijo, went out to Bogota in 1760,[53] he was accompanied by the botanist Don José Celestino Mutis, a native of Cadiz, who was appointed to conduct a botanical survey of New Granada, and especially to investigate the bark of the chinchona-trees.[54] In 1772 Mutis found these trees in the neighbourhood of Bogota, and described four kinds in 1792, which he called _C. lancifolia_, _C. cordifolia_, _C. oblongifolia_, and _C. ovalifolia_, yielding four kinds of barks--_anaranjada_, _amarilla_, _roja_, and _blanca_, or orange-coloured, yellow, red, and white.[55] He declared the _C. lancifolia_ to be excellent for intermittent fevers, in which he was right, and to be identical with the _C. Condaminea_ of Loxa, in which he was wrong; the _C. cordifolia_ he recommended for remittent fevers, and the other two for inflammatory diseases. In reality the two last are not chinchonas at all, but belong to the genus _Ladenbergia_, and contain no fever-dispelling alkaloids whatever; while the _C. Cordifolia_ is so poor in alkaloids as to be practically worthless. While Mutis, and his disciples Caldas and Zea, were prosecuting their researches in New Granada, an expedition under the botanists Ruiz and Pavon was sent to Peru; and an acrimonious paper war sprang up between the rivals, as to the respective merits of the barks of New Granada and Peru. Ruiz declared the New Granada kinds to be inferior to those of Peru, while Mutis contradicted him, and Zea[56] went so far as to maintain that the species found by Ruiz and Pavon in Peru were mere varieties of the four chinchonas of Mutis, growing near Bogota.[57] The _C. lancifolia_ of Mutis is dispersed in wild inaccessible forests, while the other three kinds grow in partly cultivated and inhabited regions, and their barks are therefore much more easy to collect. These worthless barks were, therefore, largely exported from Carthagena and Santa Martha, while the valuable _C. lancifolia_ was neglected; and the consequence was that the barks of New Granada fell entirely into discredit for many years. In about 1849, however, Dr. Santa Maria of Bogota discovered the _C. lancifolia_ afresh, producing the _quina anaranjada_, and it has recently been found in the whole cordillera from Bogota to Popayan, and largely exported between 1849 and 1855, when the supplies began to fail. Dr. Karsten, a distinguished German botanist, has lately returned from a residence of some years in New Granada, where he thoroughly examined the region of _C. lancifolia_. His remarks on the production of alkaloids in chinchona barks are very important. He came to the conclusion that the content of alkaloids was not always the same in the same species of chinchona, and that the soil and relations of climate, on which the nourishment of the plant depends, exercise considerable influence. He also assumes, what is undoubtedly true, that the chinchonæ with the capsule opening from the base and crowned by the calyx, with a corolla of delicate texture and bearded edges, and generally unindented seed-lobes, give febrifugal barks; but his further position that the short oval or elliptic capsules are a sign of a regularly larger content of alkaloids, while long capsules show a small quantity or total absence of quinine and chinchonine, though doubtless correct so far as Dr. Karsten's personal observation extended, will not bear general application. The _C. succirubra_, the richest of all the barks in alkaloids, would certainly come under the latter head. Dr. Karsten's observations on the differences in the structure of the false and true barks are also exceedingly valuable. The _C. lancifolia_ of New Granada has been found to contain as much as 2-1/2 per cent. of quinine and from 1 to 2 per cent. of chinchonine. The trees are found in forest-regions veiled in fog and rain, and often exposed to frost, where the temperature ranges from freezing-point to 77° Fahr., at heights of 7000 feet and upwards above the level of the sea. They attain a height of 80 feet and 5 feet in diameter, but the average size is 30 or 40 feet high and 3 feet in girth.[58] Seeds of this species, collected by Dr. Karsten, were sent to Java, and there are now several plants raised from these seeds in India.[59] I find that between 1802 and 1807 the export of New Granada bark from the port of Carthagena was 3,340,000 lbs.; the largest quantity in one year being 48,330 lbs. in 1806. The first arrivals in Spain sold at 5 to 6 dollars a pound, but in 1808 they were worth next to nothing, owing to the damaged state in which the bark arrived.[60] IV.--THE HUANUCO REGION IN NORTHERN PERU, AND ITS GREY BARKS. The chinchona-trees, in the forests of the province of Huanuco, in Northern Peru, were discovered by Don Francisco Renquifo in 1776, on the mountain of San Cristoval de Cuchero or Cocheros; and Don Manuel Alcarraz brought the first sample of bark from Huanuco to Lima. At almost the same time the Spanish government was organizing a botanical expedition to explore the chinchona forests of Peru; composed of the botanists Don José Pavon, Don Hipolito Ruiz, the Frenchman Dombey, and two artists named Brunete and Galvez. They embarked at Cadiz on November 4th, 1777, and reached Callao April 8th, 1778. Having made a large collection of plants in the neighbourhood of Lima, and despatched them to Spain,[61] they crossed the Andes, explored the forests of Tarma, and then proceeded to Huanuco. They traversed the valley of Chinchao, explored the hill of Cuchero or Cocheros, near Huanuco, and discovered seven species of chinchona-trees,[62] returning to Lima laden with the precious spoils of their expedition. They then sailed for Chile, and, after exploring the greater part of that province, they returned to Lima, and sent off their botanical collections in fifty-three boxes, which were all lost in the shipwreck of the 'San Pedro de Alcantara,' off the coast of Portugal, in 1786. M. Dombey returned to Europe at about the same time. Ruiz and Pavon then returned to Huanuco, explored the courses of the rivers Pozuzu and Huancabamba, and eventually established themselves at the farm of Macora, near Huanuco, where they resided for two months with Don Francisco Pulgar and Don Juan Tafalla, who, by order of the king, had joined them as pupils and associates in their labours--the first as an artist, the second as a botanist. In August, 1785, a fire broke out in their house, which destroyed all their journals and collections; and they then undertook journeys through the forests of Muña, Pillao, and Chacahuasi, examining new species of chinchonæ.[63] On April 1st, 1788, taking leave of Pulgar and Tafalla, they sailed from Callao, and reached Cadiz in September, when they commenced the publication of their great work the 'Flora Peruviana.'[64] Tafalla continued his researches in the province of Huanuco, and discovered the _C. micrantha_ in 1797, in the cool and shady forests of Monzon and Chicoplaya. Pavon calls him "noster alumnus." The expeditions and discoveries of the Spanish botanists induced the merchants of Lima to speculate in bark, and brought the grey barks of Huanuco into the European markets.[65] In 1785 Don Juan de Bezares, a Lima merchant, devoted 2000 dollars to the exploration of the forests of Huamalies. He penetrated along the banks of the Monzon to Chicoplaya, passing mountains thickly covered with chinchona-trees, and engaged people to collect bark. Thousands of arrobas were thus obtained of the bark of _C. glandulifera_; and having been appointed Governor of Huamalies by the Viceroy Don Teodoro de Croix in 1788, Bezares commenced the construction of a good road down the valley of the Monzon.[66] Up to 1826 the principal supplies of grey bark were derived from _C. nitida_, but since that time they are believed to have come chiefly from _C. micrantha_. Science owes much to the labours of Spanish botanists: the Spanish nation has every reason to be proud of her sons who explored the forests of the Andes with such untiring energy and distinguished ability; and the names of Mutis, Ruiz, Pavon, and Tafalla occupy no unimportant place in the history of botanical research. Nor, in this respect, have the natives of South America been behindhand. Caldas and Zea were worthy successors of Mutis; Franco Davila[67] represents the botanical learning of Peru; while in more modern times the name of the South American Triana is not unworthy to stand side by side with those of the best botanists in Europe. [Illustration: CHINCHONA MICRANTHA. (From Howard's 'Nueva Quinologia de Pavon.') Page 32.] After the days of Ruiz and Pavon, our chief authority on the grey barks of Huanuco is Dr. Poeppig, now a professor in Leipsic, who travelled in Chile and Peru between the years 1827 and 1832.[68] He says that, as in New Granada, the grey barks of Huanuco soon fell into discredit in the European markets, owing to the adulterations of small speculators, and that after 1815 the trade almost entirely ceased.[69] In 1830 scarcely 1250 lbs. of bark found their way from Huanuco to Lima. In the flourishing times of the Huanuco bark trade the _cascarilleros_, or bark-collectors, entered the forests in parties of ten or more, with supplies of food and tools. They penetrated for several days into the virgin forest until they came to the region of the chinchona-trees, when they built some rude huts and commenced their work. The _cateador_, or searcher, then climbed a high tree, and, with the aid of experience and sharp sight, soon discovered the _manchas_ or clumps by their dark colour, and the peculiar reflection of the light from their leaves, easily observable even in the midst of these endless expanses of forest. The _cateador_, then, with never-erring instinct, conducted the party for hours through the tangled brushwood, to the chinchona clump, using the wood-knife at every step. From a single clump they often obtained a thousand pounds of bark, which was sent up to be dried beyond the limits of the forest. All depended on the success of this operation, for the bark easily becomes mouldy and loses its colour. The _cascarilleros_ got two rials for every twenty-five pounds of green bark stripped, from the speculator, and, as they could easily strip three hundred pounds, they made two dollars a day. The bark cost the speculator about four dollars, and the price at Lima was sixteen to twenty dollars the arroba of twenty-five pounds.[70] Dr. Poeppig makes some important remarks on the supposed danger of the total extirpation of the chinchona-trees by reckless felling. Condamine and Ulloa believed that this would be the case in the Loxa forests, and Poeppig thinks that their apprehensions were well founded, because there the trees are not felled, but left standing deprived of their bark, in which case they are attacked by rot with extraordinary rapidity in tropical forests, hosts of insects penetrate to the stem, and the healthy roots become infected. But it is only necessary to observe the precaution of hewing the stem as near as possible to the root, in order to be sure of its after-growth. After six years, near Cuchero, the young stems may already be felled again; but, at higher altitudes, where the most effective chinchonas are found, it requires twenty years.[71] The _C. micrantha_ abounds in the province of Huanuco, and the bark is known as _Cascarilla provinciana_. It yields 2.7 per cent. of chinchonine, and is much sought after for the Russian market. The _C. nitida_ is a lofty tree growing in the higher regions of Huanuco, and is known by the natives as _quina cana legitima_ (genuine grey bark). It grows at a greater height than the former species, and yields 2.2 per cent. of chinchonine. The _C. Peruviana_, so named by Mr. Howard, is the _Cascarilla de pata de gallinazo_ of the natives. It grows in the forests at a lower elevation than _C. nitida_, and yields 3 per cent. of chinchonine and chinchonidine, consequently indicating a considerable amount of febrifugal power. Quinine has also been found in samples of grey bark.[72] The name of _grey_ bark refers to the striking effect of the overspreading thallus of various _Graphideæ_, forming groups, and indicating that the tree has grown in an open situation, exposed to rain and sunshine. A large supply of all the best kinds of grey bark is now growing in India.[73] V.--THE CALISAYA REGION IN BOLIVIA AND SOUTHERN PERU. The chinchona region of Bolivia and Southern Peru, although one of the most important, was the last to contribute supplies of bark to the European markets. The trees first became known through the investigations of the German botanist Thaddæus Haenke, and a Spanish naval officer named Rubin de Celis, who drew the attention of the inhabitants to the valuable forests on the eastern slopes of the Bolivian Andes in 1776, though the unfortunate French naturalist Joseph de Jussieu had previously explored some portions of those forests.[74] But it was not until 1820, when quinine was first discovered as the febrifugal principle of bark, that the _Chinchona Calisaya_[75] was recognised as containing more of that alkaloid than any other species. After 1820 the demand for _calisaya_ bark increased enormously; great numbers of _cascarilleros_, or bark-collectors, entered the forests, and in a short time scarcely a tree remained in the vicinity of the inhabited places; and the bark was exported in such quantities that the price fell very much.[76] It was not, however, until 1830 that the Bolivian Government interfered in the bark trade. It was then considered necessary by General Santa Cruz's administration to check the drain of this precious source of wealth by limiting the quantity of bark to be cut or exported; and in November, 1834, the Bolivian Congress decreed a law on the subject, which, however, never took effect. Finally, the cutting was prohibited for five years, but before the expiration of that period the decree was abrogated, and an export duty of twelve dollars to twenty dollars the quintal, or cwt., was imposed. In 1844 the Bolivian Congress authorized the President, General Ballivian, to negotiate for the establishment of a national bank of bark, with the requisite capital, to export all the quinquina bark produced in the country. This Bolivian legislation on the chinchona bark, which is considered, with justice, the most important product of their country, is very curious, and sufficiently demonstrates the futility of attempting a system of protection and monopoly. Instead of taking measures to prevent the reckless destruction of the trees, to establish extensive nurseries for young plants, and thus ensure a constant and sufficient supply of bark, these Bolivians have meddled with the trade, attempted to regulate European prices by the most barbarous legislation, and allowed the forests to be denuded of chinchona-trees. In 1845 the bark monopoly was given to Messrs. Jorge Tesanos Pinto and Co., for five years, for the sum of 119,000 dollars, during which time not more than 4000 quintals of bark were to be exported annually. This company gave such iniquitously low prices to the _cascarilleros_ for their bark, that a clamour was raised against it, and the President, General Belzu, put an end to its existence in March 1849. Free trade, with a duty of twenty dollars the quintal, was then established during one year; but in 1850 exclusive privileges were again granted to Messrs. Aramayo Brothers and Co., who were to pay the Government 142,000 dollars a year for the right of exporting 7000 quintals of bark annually, to be purchased of the _cascarilleros_, the _tabla_ or trunk bark at sixty dollars the quintal, and the _canuto_ or quill bark at thirty to thirty-six dollars the quintal. The Pinto company had only paid eighteen to twenty-two dollars the quintal for _tabla_, and eight to ten dollars for _canuto_ bark. The favourable conditions thus offered to _cascarilleros_ induced so great a number of persons to undertake the business, that at the end of the first year more than 20,000 quintals of bark arrived at La Paz--that is to say, more than twice as much as the company had agreed for, and more than the Pinto company had exported in five years. The Government then issued a decree to prevent the smuggling of bark, and another that no bark should be cut except for the company: but these measures caused much discontent, and in 1851 the Congress voted that the Executive had exceeded its powers in making these arrangements with the Aramayo company, and declared them to be null and void. The Aramayo company purchased 14,000 quintals of the bark, and agreed to take the same quantity during the two following years, paying only a third of the price in ready money; but a new company, formed under the name of Pedro Blaye and Co., engaged to purchase all the bark that was for sale, both at La Paz and Cochabamba, for ready money. It was evident that one or the other of these companies must break, and finally that of Blaye fell. The Government then determined to export the bark which remained in store on its own account, paying the same price as had been agreed on by the company. These two companies lasted for two years, during which time the Bolivian forests yielded 3,000,000 lbs. of bark. Such was the result of the high prices which followed the fall of the Pinto monopoly; but it was the rich contractors, and not the poor bark-collectors, who derived benefit from the change.[77] In 1851 Government prohibited the cutting of bark entirely, from the 1st of January, 1852, to the 1st of January, 1854.[78] In 1858 a decree was issued to regulate the transition of the system of monopoly to that of free-trade in bark, which caused an improvement in the prices in European markets; and in November, 1859, Dr. Linares, then President of Bolivia, declared the right to cut bark in the forests to be free, and reduced the duty 25 per cent. on the current prices, to be fixed at the beginning of each year.[79] This is the law which now regulates the bark trade in Bolivia, and, after a course of short-sighted meddling legislation, extending over twenty years, in 1850 it still brought 142,000 dollars annually into the public treasury, being a fifteenth part of the whole revenue of the Republic. For exportation the bark is wrapped in fresh bullock-hides, having been previously sewn up in thick cotton bags containing 155 lbs. each. These hide packages are called _serons_, a mule-load being 285 lbs., and the transport to the coast costing about ten dollars for each mule-load. It is to the persevering energy and great talent of that distinguished French botanist Dr. Weddell that we owe our knowledge of the chinchona regions of Bolivia and Southern Peru, and especially of the inestimable quinine-yielding species which he identified as the _C. Calisaya_. Dr. Weddell accompanied the scientific expedition of the Count de Castelnau, which was sent out by Louis Philippe to South America, and, after crossing the vast empire of Brazil, entered Bolivia by the country of the Chiquitos in August, 1845. It was Dr. Weddell's chief object to examine the chinchona region of this country, and his first step was to proceed to Tarija, to ascertain the extreme southern limit of the chinchona-trees, which he discovered in 19° S. lat. He named the species _C. Australis_. Dr. Weddell then commenced a thorough exploration of the Bolivian chinchona forests, making his way over the most difficult country, from Cochabamba, through Ayopaya, Enquisivi, and the _yungus_[80] of La Paz; where the species of chinchonæ continued to multiply under his eye. In Enquisivi he first met with and studied the _C. Calisaya_, which he named and described, collecting much information respecting the trade, and the methods of collecting bark. In 1847 he entered the province of Capaulican, descending the river Tipuani, where he was attacked by fever, and ascending the Mapiri. At Apollobamba, the centre of the most ancient bark-collecting district, he found that the surrounding forests were quite cleared of chinchona-trees, and that it was necessary to seek for them at a distance of ten or twelve days' journey from any inhabited place. In June 1847 Dr. Weddell entered the Peruvian province of Caravaya, examined the chinchona forests of the valleys of Sandia (San Juan del Oro) and Tambopata, and concluded his investigations by a visit to the lovely ravine of Santa Anna, near Cuzco. Dr. Weddell was accompanied in his visit to the valleys of Santa Anna by M. Delondre, a manufacturer of quinine at Havre, who, after contemplating the project of paying a personal visit to the chinchona forests for twenty years, had at length set out, landed at Islay in July, 1847, and proceeded by way of Arequipa to Cuzco. M. Delondre appears to have employed a contractor to supply him with bark, who failed in his engagements, and of whom the French quinine manufacturer bitterly complains as a second Dousterswivel.[81] MM. Weddell and Delondre finally left the chinchona forests in September, 1847, and set out for the coast of Peru. Dr. Weddell's valuable monograph on the chinchona genus, '_Histoire naturelle des Quinquinas_,' the most important work that has yet appeared on the subject, was published at Paris in 1849. In 1851 Dr. Weddell undertook a second voyage to South America, and in 1852 he entered the Bolivian chinchona region of Tipuani by way of Sorata. In descending the eastern slopes of the Andes he describes the vegetation as taking new forms at every mile of the descent. The undergrowth was formed of _Melastomaceæ_ with violet-coloured flowers (_Chætogastra_), myrtles, _Gaultherias_, and _Andromedas_; lower down there were many superb species of _Thibaudias_; and, where the great forests succeed to the smaller growth of the more elevated region, the predominant trees were _Escallonias_, arborescent _Eupatorias_, _Bocconias_, and a fruit-bearing _Papilionacea_ with a scarlet corolla. He encountered the first forest chinchona-trees at an elevation of 7138 feet, being the _C. ovata var. α vulgaris_. Descending still, he came to paccay-trees (_Mimosa Inga_) in flower, and met with the first plant of the shrubby variety of _C. Calisaya_, on an open grassy ridge or _pajonal_, at an elevation of 4800 feet. Dr. Weddell descended the river Tipuani to Guanay, a mission of Lecos Indians, and ascended the Coroico in a canoe made of the wood of a species of _Bombax_. The forests bordering on the river Coroico abounded in many species of palms, chiefly _Maximilianas_ and _Iriarteas_, the latter a singular kind with a trunk supported on long aërial roots. There were also many trees of _C. micrantha_ on the banks of the Coroico, a species of chinchona, the peculiarity of which is its fondness for the bottoms of valleys and banks of rivers, while most of the others prefer elevated ridges or slopes of the mountains. With it were growing trees of the beautiful _Cascarilla magnifolia_, an allied genus with deliciously fragrant flowers. The _cascarilleros_ of Bolivia lead a hard and dangerous life. They only value the _C. Calisaya_, the other species being for them _carhua-carhua_, a name given to all the inferior kinds. Those who carry the bark on their shoulders from the interior of the forests receive fifteen dollars for every quintal, and they also have to carry all their provisions and covering for the night. If by any accident they are lost, or their provisions are destroyed, they die of hunger. Dr. Weddell, on one occasion, while ascending the Coroico, landed with the intention of passing the night on a beach well shaded by trees. Here he found the hut of a _cascarillero_, and near it a man stretched out on the ground in the agonies of death. He was nearly naked, and covered with myriads of insects, whose stings had hastened his end. His face was so swollen as to be wholly unrecognisable, and his limbs were in a frightful state. On the leaves which formed the roof of the hut were the remains of this unfortunate man's clothes, a straw hat and some rags, with a knife, and an earthen pot containing the remains of his last meal, a little maize, and two or three _chuñus_. Such is the end to which their hazardous occupation exposes the bark-collectors--death in the midst of the forests, far from all friends--a death without help, and without consolation. Dr. Weddell returned to La Paz by ascending the Coroico, and the results of his second visit to the chinchona forests appeared in an entertaining book of travels.[82] To this able botanist and intrepid explorer science is indebted, to no small extent, for the present state of our knowledge of the chinchona genus. The _C. Calisaya_ species has been divided by Dr. Weddell into two varieties, namely, a _vera_ and β _Josephiana_. The former, when growing under favourable circumstances, is a tall tree, often larger round than twice a man's girth, with its leafy head rising above all the other trees of the forest. The leaves are oblong or lanceolate-obovate, pitted in the axils of the veins, with a shining green surface, and reddish veins. The flowers, which hang in large panicles, are a rosy-white colour, with laciniæ rose-colour, and bordered by marginal white hairs. The capsule is smooth, and about twice as long as broad. This tree grows on declivities, and steep rugged places of the mountains, from 4900 to 5900 feet above the sea, in the forests of Enquisivi, Capaulican, Apollobamba, and Larecaja in Bolivia, and of Caravaya in Peru. The trunk may be known by the periderm of the bark, sometimes of a greyish-white, sometimes brown or blackish, being always marked by longitudinal ridges or cracks, a characteristic remarked of no other tree of these forests, excepting one or two of the same family. The taste is strongly bitter, which is apparent directly the tip of the tongue touches it, and, when the exterior receives a cut, a yellow gummy resinous matter exudes from it. The bark comes off with great ease, like peeling a mushroom, while, in the inferior kinds, and above all in the false chinchonas, it strips transversely, and with much greater difficulty. A good tree yields 150 to 175 pounds of dried bark. The other variety of _C. Calisaya_, called _ychu cascarilla_, or _cascarilla del pajonal_, by the natives, was named _Josephiana_ by Dr. Weddell after the unfortunate French botanist Joseph de Jussieu. It is a shrub, not attaining a greater height than six and a half to ten feet, and growing on open grassy slopes, at much higher elevations than the tree _Calisaya_. There is another tree variety with a somewhat darker leaf, which Dr. Weddell classed as a distinct species, and called _C. Boliviana_ in 1849, but which he now considers to be a mere variety of _C. Calisaya_. The other good kinds in the forests of Bolivia and Caravaya are _C. micrantha_, and two varieties of _C. ovata_. Dr. Weddell brought seeds of _C. Calisaya_ to Paris, which were raised in the Jardin des Plantes in 1848, and others in the garden of the Horticultural Society in London, where one of the plants flowered.[83] Many of these plants were given away, and some of them were sent by the Dutch Government to Java. Plants of _C. Calisaya_ are now flourishing in India. The yield of quinine for the best kinds of _calisaya_ bark is 3.8 per cent., that for the _Josephiana_ variety 3.29.[84] Arica and Islay are the ports for the shipment of _calisaya_ bark; and in 1859 the quantity and value exported were:-- From Arica 1926 quintals, worth £17,334 " Islay 1365 " " 12,383 ---- ------ 3291 29,717 ---- ------ Jan. 1st to Nov. 30th, 1860, Arica $160,260 = £35,000 (about). 1860, Islay, 1077 quintals.