106 



INSURMOUNTABLE DIFFICULTY IN 



ClIAP. VI. 



for this threatened war is perhaps the most extraordinary 

 that has ever been alleged in modern times; namely, that 

 the Bolivian Government persisted in coining and deluging 

 Peru with debased half-dollars. A strange way of settling 

 a financial difficulty ! 



While these objections weighed against an attempt to 

 collect plants in the forests of Bolivia, I found that, with 

 regard to the chinchona forests of the Peruvian province 

 of Caravaya, on the frontier of Peru and Bolivia, the facilities 

 for such an enterprise would be much greater. I had reason 

 to believe, though 1 afterwards found myself in error, that, 

 as there was no bark trade in Peru of any importance,^ no 

 jealousy would be felt at the nature of my mission. Any 

 hostile proceedings on the Bolivian frontier would not 

 materially aifect the route between the Caravaya forests 

 and the coast ; and, above all, Caravaya is much nearer and 

 more accessible, as regards an available seaport, than any 

 part of the chinchona forests of Bolivia. This latter point was 

 of the very greatest importance, because success depended 

 chiefly on the rapidity Avith which the plants could be 

 conveyed across the frozen plains of the Cordilleras. I 

 knew from Dr. Weddell that, though the bark trade from 

 Caravaya has now ceased, and bark from that district is 

 of no market value, owing to a foolish habit of adulteration 

 amongst speculators in former times, yet that young plants, 

 and trees bearing fruit, of the Chinchona Calisaya, and other 

 valuable species, were abundant in the forests of that pro- 

 vince, as far north as the valley of Sandia. 



I, therefore, after much anxious consideration, determined 

 to proceed direct from Puno to the forests of Caravaya. 



During my stay at Puno I had opportunities of examining 



^ All the bark shipped at Islay is 

 smuggled across the Bolivian fron- 

 tier ; Arica is the reeoguised port of 



Bolivia ; and the bark exported from 

 Payta comes from the neighbouring 

 republic of Ecuador. 



