62 PRELIMINAEIES TO INTRODUCTION OF Chap. IV. 



fever-haunted plains and jungles, were commensurate mtli 

 the diJQSculties of the undertaking. The subject had occupied 

 the attention of the Indian Government from time to time, 

 ever since Dr. Eoyle in 1839 advocated the introduction of 

 quinine-yielding trees into India, in his work on Himalayan 

 Botany ; but it was not until twenty years afterwards, in 1859, 

 that any adequate steps were taken to effect this most desirable 

 end, and to bring an antidote within the reach of the fever- 

 stricken people of India, while adding a new source of wealth 

 to the resom'ces of that great dependency. 



The proposal to introduce the chinchona-plants into India 

 was first made officially in a despatch from the Governor- 

 General, dated March 27th, 1852. It was referred to the 

 late Dr. Eoyle, the reporter on Indian products to the East 

 India Company, who drew up an able memorandum on the 

 subject, dated June, 1852 : — " To the Indian Government,^' 

 he said, "the home supply of a drug which already costs 7000^. 

 a year would be advantageous in an economical point of 

 view, and invaluable as affording means of employing a 

 drug which is indispensable in the treatment of Indian fevers. 

 I have no hesitation in saying that, after the Chinese teas, 

 no more important plant could be introduced into India." 

 The only result of this application from India was that the 

 Foreign Office was requested to obtain a supply of plants and 

 seeds from the consuls in South America, and instructions to 

 that effect were sent out to them in October, 1852. In the 

 autumn of 1853 Mr. Mark wrote from Bogota that some 

 delay would be necessary, and nothing more was heard from 

 that quarter ; Mr. Sullivan, the consul-general in Peru, 

 reph'ed that it would be impossible to accomplish a successful 

 result, through the jealousy of the people ; but Mr. Cope, 

 the excellent and venerable consul-general at Quito, made a 

 more satisfactory and substantial answer, in the shape of a 

 box of chinchona plants and seeds from Cuenca and Loxa. 



