10 DESTRUCTION OF CHINCHONA-TREES. Chap. I. 



were acquainted ; and from 1640 to 177G no other bark was 

 met witli in commerce than that which was exported from 

 the Peruvian port of Payta, brought down from the forests ' 

 in the neighbom-hood of Loxa. The constant practice of 

 improvidently felling the trees over so small an area for 

 more than a century, without any cessation, inevitably led to 

 their becoming very scarce, and threatened their eventual 

 extinction. As early as 1735 UUoa reported to the Spanish 

 Government, that the habit of cutting down the trees in the 

 forests of Loxa, and afterwards barking them, without taking 

 the precaution of planting others in their places, would un- 

 doubtedly cause their complete extirpation. " Though the 

 trees are numerous," he added, "yet they have an end ;" and 

 he suggested that the Corregidor of Loxa should be directed 

 to appoint an overseer, whose duty it should be to examine 

 the forests, and satisfy himself that a tree was planted in 

 place of every one that was felled, on pain of a fine.^ This 

 wise rule was never enforced, and sixty years afterwards 

 Humboldt reported that 25,000 trees were destroyed in one 

 year. 



The measures adopted by the Spanish Government towards 

 the end of the last century, in sending botanical expeditions 

 to explore the chinchona forests in other parts of their vast 

 South American possessions, led to the discovery of additional 

 valuable species, the introduction of their barks into com- 

 merce, and the reduction of the pressure on the Loxa forests, 

 which were thus relieved from being the sole source whence 

 Peruvian bark could be sup})lied to the world. 



The region of chinchona-trees extends from 19'' S. latitude, 

 where Weddell found the (7. Australis, to 10° N., following 

 the almost semicircular curve of the cordillera of the Andes 

 over 1740 miles of latitude. Thev flourish in a cool and 



' Nvticias Secreiut<, p. 572. 



