CINCHONACEJE. 



and grasping disposition of the first Brazilian speculators are the subject 

 of ridicule at Mayobamba ; and in Yurimagnas many hundred- 

 weight of bad bark still lies rotting, to the ruin of the sub-prefect of 

 that province, who, having the first time shipped off a large cargo of 

 this worthless article, hoped to have accomplished the deception again, 

 with equal success. Barks from the territory of the Upper Huallaga 

 have never found their way to the Brazils on the Maranon, for any 

 communication between Cuchero and Jabatinga is impossible and never 

 existed ; besides which, the commerce in Huanuco had even ceased 

 before the Brazilians had permission to come to Maynas. In the pro- 

 vince of Para, even under the flourishing state of trade, there are 

 strong prejudices against the sale of Peruvian fever bark, for the better 

 kinds have never been sent there. Thus the produce of the Montana 

 of Huanuco has always been transmitted to Lima, and thence to 

 Europe by Cape Horn, and never took the imaginary way of the River 

 Maranon. 



In the Cinchona forests of Huanuco, the collectors were very atten- 

 tive even to variations arising from locality. Thus they gathered the 

 bark only from trees which grew on steep declivities or mountain-tops, 

 rejecting the finest trunks that stood collected in promising groups, 

 (manchas,) where the soil appeared moist and the air warm and de- 

 ficient in proper ventilation. For this reason the price of the produce 

 varied considerably even in small districts, that bark being most costly 

 which was obtained from the coldest and most elevated spots. The 

 provinces of Conchuras and Huamalies abound in forests of Cinchonas; 

 near the villages of Cayambe and Pillao, and in Cuchero and Casapi, 

 and on the mountains of Panataguas and Pampayaco, the very best 

 kinds are procured. That from Pozuzo is small and inferior; while 

 the bark of the Cascarilla hoya de Oliva, which grows only in small 

 quantities near San Rafael, is considered the finest of all. With the 

 exception of some few haciendas, all the above-mentioned countries, 

 which teem with Cinchona trees, belong to no individual in particular ; 

 and it is the same with the unappropriated wilds of the Huallaga, which 

 are uninhabited, and protected by no fort or government defence. 

 Every one has a right to collect there, and it does not seem as if a 

 single regulation of any kind existed with reference to the Cascarillas. 



1. Limb of the corolla stupose. Leaves scrobiculate. 



829. C.micrantha Fl.peruv. ii. 52. 1. 194. Ruiz and Pav. quinol 

 suppl. p. 1. DC.prodr. iv. 354. C. scrobiculata Humb. and 

 Bonpl.pl. aquin. i. p. 165. t. 47. DC.prodr. iv. 352. High, 

 cool, and wooded mountains of Peru, near Chicoplaya, Monzon, 

 the Pueblo de San Antonio de Playa grande R. and P. ; forests 

 in the province of St. Jaen de Bracamorros H. and B. The last 

 travellers were told that it also occurs at Chirinas Tabaconas, 

 S. Ignacio, and Tambovapa. Cuchero Poppig. 



Branches quadrangular, quite smooth except among the inflores- 

 cence. Leaves oblong, obtuse, or hardly acute, rather membranous, 

 very large, often a span long without the petiole, quite smooth on 

 each side, very distinctly pitted at the axils of the veins, and either 



412 



