514 FETCH : 



XVII. — Castilloa. 



The story of Cross's journey in search of Castilloa has been 

 recorded bj'^ Sir Clements R. Markham, from whose account 

 the following details are taken : — 



The collection of Castilloa plants for introduction into India 

 was a very difficult service, for the trees grow in wild and unhealthy 

 forests, with no n:ieans of transit, and no facilities of any kintl. 

 In Mr. Cross I found a man with all the requisite qvialifications 

 for undertaldng it. He is an excellent gardener, possessed of 

 great energy and determination, combined with jvxdgment, is 

 acquainted with the language, and has had mucli experience in 

 South Am(*rifan travelling. No better man covild be found to 

 execute the difMcult task of obtaining a supply of Castilloa plants, 

 and conveying them in a healthy state from their native forests 

 to the gardens at Kew. 



Mr. Robert Cross left England on May 2, 1875, and reached 

 Panaiua on the 26th of the same month, my instructions to him 

 being to endeavour to make the collection on the isthmvts. He 

 fomid that great destructibn was going on among the ule trees 

 in all parts of the Darien isthmus, the native collectors cutting 

 down the trees in order to tap them more easily, as is tlie case in 

 the A.ssam forests. After obtaining all the information that could 

 be procured in Panama, Mr. Cross determined to select the forests 

 on the banks of the large tributaries of the river Chagres as the 

 base of his operations. 



He ascended the Chagres river in a canoe, and then made a 

 journey on foot tlirough the dense forest, into the heart of the 

 ule district. He found the Castilloa saplings growing on tlie banks 

 of streams, with their roots often running down to the edge of the 

 water. They abound in rich soil along tlie base of the hills, and 

 are also met with on tlie summits of ridges ; everywhere, except 

 in swampy ground. The trees, which proved to be of the species 

 named by Mr. Collins Castilloa Markham iana, are from 160 to 180 

 feet liigli, with a diameter of 5 feet, and a yield of 100 lb. of 

 indiaru1il)or. The wood is spongy and soft, and decays rapidly 

 when l)niis('d or injured. Many of tlie leaves measure 14 inches 

 in length and 7 inches in breadth. The temperature of the forests 

 ranges from 75° to 80° Fahr., and they are excessively damp. 

 The range oi the Cast Hloas is st) wide that, in some places, the trees 

 must flourish in climates which at one time of the year are dry. 

 It is probable. howoviT, that the species with the best and largest 

 yield of caoutchouc flourishes best in a liot and very damp and 

 steaming atmosplusro. like that of the forests of the isthmus. 



Mr. (VosH collected 600 plants, and also drew a quantity of 

 millc. in order to prepare a specimen of the rubber. The samjile 

 ho brought homo was examined and reported upon, and was 

 pronounccnl lo liave much less impurity than is usual for this kind 

 of rubb(T. and thus proved Mr. Cross's jilants to be of the best 

 species. Ho left the isthmus with the plants on September 6. 

 1875, on board the mail steamer " Shannon,'' but in the morning of 



