STORAX. 203 



is cultivated to such an extent as to supply the 

 consumption of Peru and Quito, with that of Chili. 

 After steeping the plant in hot mead or a decoction 

 of sweet herbs, in order to improve its flavour, 

 and the better to preserve its strength, it is dried, 

 and tied up in rolls, containing an hundred leaves. 

 No other is used by the inhabitants of the neigh- 

 bouring countries, who prefer it when thus pre- 

 pared. Sugar canes and cotton also thrive well in 

 Macas. But the dread of the wild Indians, who 

 commit fearful depredations, discourages the country 

 people from planting more than just suffices for 

 present consumption. It happens not unfrequently 

 that when the peasant is working cheerfully, with his 

 wife and children, he is suddenly assailed, and the 

 products of his labour are in a moment carried off. 



Among the variety of valuable trees that diversify 

 the woods of Macas, one of the most remarkable is 

 the Storax, (Sty rax officinale^ of which the gum is 

 exquisitely fragrant. But it is rarely to be obtained, 

 as the trees grow in lonely places near the haunts of 

 the wild Indians. Cinnamon trees also flourish in 

 great abundance. The bark they yield is said to be 

 even superior to that of Ceylon, and though widely 

 different from such as is produced at Quixos, the 

 superiority is merely owing to their being fully ex- 

 posed to the sunbeams, as they grow unshaded, and 

 the richness of the ground is not drawn from them 

 by the roots of other trees. This mode of treat- 

 ment answers extremely well, as was shown by the 

 exceeding beauty of a solitary tree, noticed by Ulloa, 

 near the town of Macas, the bark and blossom of 

 which exceeded in taste and fragrance, and aromatic 



