414 Voyage of the Novara. 



scarcely less importance than the potato to the labouring 

 man, is daily diminishing. The Calisaya region (i. e. the 

 limits within which the C. Calisaya, the species that furnishes 

 the most valuable bark, is found in its finest and most abund- 

 ant state) extends from about one degree north of Lake 

 Titicaca, or from 14° 30' to 20° S. In the forests of Cocha- 

 bamba, between which place and La Paz is the principal dis- 

 trict of the China tree, the tree is more frequently found 

 than in those running parallel on either side with La Paz, in 

 which it is usually met with at such a distance from the capi- 

 tal that it becomes valueless, owing to the cost of transport, 

 which is as high as 17 dollars per 100 lbs. The more south- 

 erly forests are still quite virgin, and have never re-echoed 

 the blows of the Cascarilleros' axe. The largest quantity is 

 exported from Tacna through the port of Arica, only a small 

 portion being smuggled northwards from Lake Titicaca, for 

 shipment via Port d'Islay. According to statistics, from 8000 

 to 10,000 cwt. of bark may be thus exported for any lapse 

 of time, without the slightest danger of the tree getting' ex- 

 terminated. Since 1845 the exportation of bark from Bolivia 

 has been a Government monopoly, which has farmed out 

 the privilege to a private company, that used to pay a certain 

 annual premium based on an export of 4000 cwt. The com- 

 pany paid the Cascarilleros or other persons who collected 

 the bark, 25 dollars to 30 dollars for every hundredweight of 

 Calisaya delivered in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. The 

 enterprise, however, proved only partially successful, since 



