554 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Feb. I, 1886. 



of Nagrak and Lembang, on the southera slopes of 

 Tangkobbau Praoe. 



Early on the moruiug of the clay appointed our little 

 party started iu two cabars, each drawn by three 

 smart ponies, on the road towanls Lembaug ; and 

 after about an hour's drive *we reached a little village 

 where saddle-horses were waiting for us. Thence, 

 accompinied by a considerable escort of natives, rid- 

 ing and ou foot, we commenced the steeper portion 

 of the aecent by a devious mountain path. Though 

 we had been gradually getting on to higher ground 

 ever since leaving B;indong, there was at first but 

 little perceptible change in the character of the 

 vegetation, and one might still observe about the 

 native cottages, bananas and betel-pepper, patches 

 of cassava, the coconut palm and the areca palm, 

 and clumps of tall bamboos. Somewhat higher these 

 gave place more or less to the areuga or sugar palm 

 and small plots of tea ; whilst higher again cotiee 

 became the prominent object of cultivation, and this, 

 together with fine crops of tobacco, were noticed up 

 to an elevation of ^1,000 feet. 



Thanks to an early start we reached Nagrak about 

 9 a.m. On entering the plantations our attention 

 was fi.rst attracted by a large patch of Ginchonf Jo^<ph' 

 iana, well-grown trees eight or nine years old. The 

 . bark of this species has been found to be of low 

 alkaloid value, seldom yielding more than 1 per cent 

 of quinine, so that the tree is no longer regarded as 

 worth growing, and the whole were being uprooted. 

 Then came a plot of C. succiruhra^ which, so far as 

 quinine is concerned, is s-iarcely richer, and this ground 

 was about to be cleared for the same reason. A 

 similar fate has already bi.-fallen a Urge proportion of 

 the plantiugs of C Calisay'., C. Paht'diana, and 0. 

 Hasskiw liana. 



The homestead, if one may call it so, that is the 

 buildings pertaining to the station, are situated about 

 13 paals from Bauilong, on a sort of platform 5,0' H) 

 feet above the sea, the plantations extending to a 

 further height of 400 feet or more on the mountain 

 side. The area of the estate is about 2()0 acres. 

 The buildings consist of the overseer's house — a com- 

 modious little wooden bungalow of the customary 

 Dutch East India patteru, in a garden gay and fra- 

 grant with roses and heliotrope, and a number of rows 

 of tidy cottages, built native fashion of bamboo 

 wickprwork and thatched. Near at hand arc the dry- 

 ing sheds and frame'*, stoves, and the like, as well 

 as the nurseries stocked with ynung plants. The 

 platform in front of the house cotnmau Is a magni- 

 fi^'cnt panorama of the plain of Bandong with the Tji 

 Taroem mcand-ring through it; and uf the opposite 

 range of Rlount Malawar, thirty to forty miles distant, 

 whose summits reach an elevation of 7,^00 feet. A 

 flag-staff with the Dutch colours is a conspicious 

 land-mark from below; and close by is a tall hand- 

 some tree of Cinchui>a Cordlfolia, which has been 

 spared for its beauty iu the general uprooting of 

 that species. 



Leaving our horses at the housn, we proceeded to the 

 work of in.spection on foot, visiting first tlie drying- 

 sheds. The bark is drird as far as possible witliont 

 artiOcia! heat. It is jjlaced in trays 4 to 5 feut lotig 

 by 3 wiile, made of plaited strips of bamboo, the 

 quills being arranged in orderly fa.shion side by side. 

 The trays are slid on to long stages or tressles li or 

 4 feet in bright. They are brought out early in the 

 morning, and at siniset are ail taken liack into tlie 

 adjoining sheds and piled in tiers. The fre<iucnt 

 heavy tropical showers necessitate a largo amount of 

 care whilst the bark is thus exposed. For artificial 

 drving there are houses with stoves and long flues, 

 wood of course being employed as fuel; but these 

 are comp iratively little used, as, on the whoh;, spont- 

 aneous drying has been found to give the best results. 

 At the time of my visit the trays were (ilbnl with 

 xuccirvhra bark iu (luills, and the root-bark of the 

 same ih small irregular shreds. 



Passing from the drying-ground again into the 

 plantations, whii'h lie on a tolerably str-op ascent, wo 

 found ourselves first in n tract laid out with C skcc/- 



ruhra. As a tree Cinch&na gucciriihra is one of the 

 handsomest of the genus. The size of the leaves, 

 especially those of the young plants, and the fine 

 ruddy hue which they often exhibit, together with its 

 vigorous habit of growth, serve to distinguish the 

 species from^ most of its congeners. The plantation 

 was undergoing the process of thiuuing, and to this 

 end the surplus tn-es were being pulled up by the 

 roots. The bark of the roots, which is thinner and 

 much less easily separated than that of the stem, is 

 carefully preserved ; for it has been ascertained that 

 iu several species which are accounted of relatively 

 low quinine value, notably C. officinalis^ C. aiKjHca 

 and (7. succirnhraj the root-bark gives the better per- 

 centage of alkaloids. 



Further on we came to a plot of what is termed 

 by the Dutch botanists Cincnona CaUsaynj var. (ui'/licat 

 which is supposed to be a hybird between caibiaya 

 and .■iiiccirubni, and pos.sesses more or less the botan- 

 ical feeoures of both. The original stock is said to 

 have been obtained from Ceylon. At a somewhat 

 higher level, 5,200 feet or more, is a plantation of 

 0. lancifolia, which is still regarded as a useful tree, 

 the bark often yielding 4 or 5 per cent of quinine. 

 At about the same elevation there is also a consider- 

 able planting of C. officinali:fj but either the climate 

 or soil are unfavourable to that species, for it grows 

 slowly and the trees are long and spindling, though 

 it is reported to thrive well in private plantations 

 in the more easterly portions of the Island. 



Above these again was a large area devoted' to 

 Cinchona Ledyeviaaa. At present the whole interest 

 of Cinchona planters is centred in this plant. The 

 story of its introduction is probably known to many 

 of you.* An Englishman, Charles Ledger, resident 

 for the time iu Bolivia, engaged in business chiefly 

 in connection with the alpaca trade, but in constant 

 communication with native bark-collectors, conceived 

 the idea of obtaining the seed of the " famous white 

 flower rojo cascarilla " from the valley of the Yuugas. 

 The difficulties were known to be almost insuperable. 

 The Indians hail a deep-rooted supersition that if 

 their Cinchonas ever came to be successfully cultiv- 

 ated m other countries all their own trees would 

 perish, and of course no precaution was left un- 

 heeded to prevent such a catastrophe. *' More than 

 half a dozen times," says Mr. Ledger, "I have had 

 my luggage, bedding, etc., searched when coming out 

 of the Yungas ;" and the strictest vigilance was ex- 

 ercised even by the local Prefects to prevent anyone 

 taking seed or plants out of the country. This was 

 as far back as 1850. A Bolivian Indian, Manuel Tucra 

 Mamani, with his two sons accompanied Mr. Ledger 

 in his trivels, and one of the sons subsequently went 

 with him to Australia. Previous to leaving Bolivia, 

 Mr. Ledger had hinted to Manuel that he might 

 require some of the seeds and flowers of the coveted 

 species of Cinchona for the preparation of an im- 

 portant medicine, and the reputation which he en- 

 joyetl as a doctor was sufficient to give an air of 

 in'obabiHty to "the st<jry. On the return of the son 

 from Australia iu 18G1, Mr. Ledger sent the sum of 

 2110 dollars to iManuel by him, with a message that 

 he looked to him to procure M) or 50 lb. of .seed 

 from a certain specifiiul batch of trees that they had 

 vi.sited togetJier ten years before. Of the precise 

 locality nothing is known to us except tbat it is in 

 the Caupolican district of the eastern Yungas. 



Li'dger himself retiu-ned to South America in I8ti5, 

 and Manuel met him at Tacna, in Pern, bringing 

 with him the coveted seed. Under any other suppos- 

 ition than that it was required as a medicine, prob- 

 ably even the faithfid Indian would have made no 

 attempt to obtain it; and poor Manuel himself lost 

 his life seven or eight years later in endeavouring to 

 procure a further supply from tlie same source. 

 Even after the seed was secured there was consider- 



* Au exceediogly interesting letter written by Mr. 

 Ledger to his brother, giving a history of the steps 

 by which the original seed was procured, appeared 

 in the Fiefd for February 5, 1883, p. 161. 



