Chap. XIX. THE " GREY BARKS." '325 



account the village of Chinchao, in tlie Casapi valley, would 

 liave an elevation of about 5000 feet. From Cliineliao to the 

 foot of the Cocheros mountain is a distance of twenty-five 

 miles down the Casapi valley/ a gentle descent, with numerous 

 cottages and plantations on both sides of the road.'-^ Thus the 

 foot of the Cocheros mountain woidd be about 4500 feet above 

 the sea, and its summit at least GOOO feet. 



We shall not, therefore, be very far from the truth if we 

 • place the region of C. nitida on the Cocheros and Carpis 

 mountains at from 6000 to 7000 feet above the sea, and of 

 O. micrantha at from 4000 to 5000 feet. 



Mr. Pritchett performed the portion of this important un- 

 dertaking which I intrusted to him with promptitude and 

 zeal. Time was a great object, and, by going direct from 

 Lima to the best locality in the Huanuco chinchona region, he 

 completed the necessary collection of plants and seeds, and 

 returned to the coast in little more than three months.^ This 

 shows how essential a previous knowledge of the chinchona 

 region, of the people, and of the language, was, without 

 which the collector would probably lose much time, which is 

 the same thing as spending much money, and eventually 

 wander into a locality where only worthless species are found, 

 as was the case with the Dutch agent. 



Owing to the imavoidable abandonment of Mr. Spruce's 



1 HernJou'a Valley of the Amazon, 

 p. 13G. 



- Smji;h, p. 115; who says that, ac- 



days without mtemiissiou."— Dr. A. 

 Smith's Ptric as It Is, ii. p. 57. 



Of the identity of the species col- 



cording to a register which had beeu lected hy IMi\ Prichctt there is no 



kept there, it rains at Casapi on more doubt. He brought liome specimens 



tlian liaU" the days uf the year. from the trees wlience tlie seeds were 



"From May to Novemlier the smi obtahied, wiueli have beeu examined 



shines very powerfully in the valley of by Mr. Howard, anil proved to belong 



Chinchao, and consequently the soil, to C. niti'la, C. micrantha, and C. 



when it is cleared of wood, becomes so Peruviana. The barks also have been 



parched that its surface opens in chiidcs, found to contain a satisfactory per- 



but tuiderneatli it always preserves centage of alkaloids. Some further 



liumidity, and Iheretbre iieetls no irri- i)articulai-s respecting these speciea 



gation. From Novi'mber to May it have already been given iu chap. ii. 



rauis much, sometimes six or seven p. ;>0-H5. 



