PERUVIAN BARK. 195 



from the base, and branchless till within a short dis- 

 tance from the top, where they shoot out and pre- 

 sent the figure of an hemisphere. The leaves in 

 shape resemble those of the English plum; they 

 are dark green on the upper side, and beautifully 

 relieved beneath with brown : the flowers are red, 

 like the earth from which they spring. Occa- 

 sionally the bark trees grow in groups, but more 

 generally intermingled with others, on rocky banks, 

 or beside some sparkling stream, where the deep 

 green of their leaves presents a beautiful appear- 

 ance when agitated by the wind, as waving up 

 and down, they discover the shining brown of their 

 under surfaces. The Indians resort in great num- 

 bers, during the months of September and October, 

 to the wooded mountains of Quito, where they erect 

 temporary huts in sheltered places, and avail them- 

 selves of every intermission of the rain, which falls 

 almost incessantly in those high regions, to cut down, 

 or bark the trees, and to collect the bark in buildings 

 erected for the purpose. You may see them assem- 

 ble round the largest of the bark trees, each pro- 

 vided with a knife and a bag, and thus prepared 

 they slice down the bark, as high as they can reach, 

 and then having bound a kind of ladder with tough 

 fibres to the trunk, they ascend a few steps, and 

 make the same incisions. A short time suffices to 

 mount, in this manner, the highest trees. An In- 

 dian below gathers what the other cuts down, and 

 this they do by turns, going from tree to tree, till 

 each has filled his bag. The bark, thus collected, is 

 removed as soon as possible from the receiving hut 

 to the nearest farm house or plantation, where it is 



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