2 VIRTUES OF BARK KNOWN TO INDIANS. Chap. I. 



who were sent in search of them over the cordiJIeras of the 

 Andes, and into the vast untrodden forests. 



It would be strange indeed, if, as is generally supposed, 

 the Indian aborigines of South America were ignorant of the 

 virtues of Peruvian bark ; yet the absence of this sovereign 

 remedy in the wallets of itinerant native doctors who have 

 pKed their trade from father to son, since the time of the 

 Incas, certainly gives some countenance to this idea. It seems 

 probable, nevertheless, that the Indians were aware of the 

 virtues of Peruvian bark in the neighbourhood of Loxa, 230 

 miles south of Quito, where its use was first made known to 

 Europeans : and the Indian name for the tree quina-quina, 

 " bark of bark," indicates that it was believed to possess some 

 special medicinal properties.^ The Indians looked upon their 

 conquerors with dislike and suspicion ; it is improbable that 

 they would be quick to impart knowledge of this natm-e to 

 them ; and the interval which elapsed between the discovery 

 and settlement of the country and the first use of Peruvian 

 bark by Europeans may thus easily be explained.^ The 

 conquest and subsequent civil wars in Peru cannot be said to 

 have been finally concluded until the time of the \dceroy 

 Marquis of Caiiete, in 1560 ; and J. de Jussieu reports that 

 a Jesuit, who had a fever at Malacotas,^ was cured by 

 Peruvian bark in 1600. M. La Coudamine also found a 

 manuscript in the library of a convent at Loxa, in which it 

 was stated that the Europeans of the province used the bark 



1 In Quichna, when the name of a 

 plant is reduplicated, it almost inva- 

 riably implies that it possesses some 

 medicinal qnahty. 



- La Coudamiue, Jussieu, and Ruiz 

 all believed that the Inthans were 



aware of the medicinal qualities of | origin. 



chewing the bark to ciu'e then* fevers, 

 mentioned by Condamine ; and of an 

 IncUan having found it out by (h-mking 

 of the waters of a lake into which a 

 cliinchona-ti'ee had fallen — told by 

 Geoffrey — are of modern and European 



Peruvian bark, and that they imparted 

 their knowledge to the Spaniards. 

 Hmnboldt and Ulloa were of an oppo- 

 site opinion. The stories of its virtues 

 having been discovered by watching 

 the pumas or South-American Uons 



3 Jussieu says that it is certain that 

 the first knowledge of the efficacy of this 

 bark was derived from the Indians of 

 Blalacotiis, some leagues south of Loxa. 

 — "Weddcll, Histoire Naturelle des 

 Quinquinas, p. 15. 



