OLD METHOD OF PREPARATION. 305 



in its jurisdiction the celebrated Balsam Coast, where is pro- isea. 

 duced the richest balsam, which in all parts is held in particular 

 estimation. 1 He further mentions that the only commercial port 

 is Acajutla, four leagues from the capital, and that it is fre- 

 quented by vessels fiom New Spain, Terra Firma and Peru. 



Juarros, in his History of Guatemala, describing the province 

 of S. Salvador, remarks that its natural productions are in general 

 similar to those of the other provinces on the southern coast, but 

 that the balsam -tree is found exclusively in that province, upon 

 what is called the Balsam Coast, which extends from the port of The Balsam 

 Acajutla to the Bay of Jiquilisco. 2 Coast * 



Baily, a recent author, whose work entitled Central America 

 appeared in 1850, remarks that the balsam was long erroneously 

 supposed to be a production of South America, for in the early 

 period of Spanish dominion it was usually shipped to Callao, in 

 Peru, whence it was sent to Europe, where it received the name 

 of Balsam of Peru, being deemed indigenous to that country. 



The old method of preparing the balsam does not appear to Old methods 

 have been that resorted to at the present day, for Dr. Dorat has of tioT*' 

 stated that the Spaniards were in the habit of obtaining it by 

 cutting down the trees and boiling the wood. a wasteful and 

 destructive practice which was afterwaids prohibited. Whether 

 the process now followed was also in vogue, or how and when 

 it was introduced, is not evident ; the extraction of the balsam 

 by boiling chips of the trunk and branches is, however, described 

 by most writers on Materia Medica. Monardes, whose account Monardes. 

 is the earliest, asserts that the balsam extracted in this manner 

 is collected with shells from the surface of the water, a statement 

 difficult to believe, as the balsam of modern times, has, a sp. gr. 

 of 1*150 to 1*160. But I find that even this is capable of some 

 explanation ; for upon saturating some cotton cloth in Balsam 

 of Peiu and then boiling it in water, I was able with a spoon to 



1 " Comprehende en su jurisdiccion la celebrada Costa del Balsamo, de 

 donde se saca el mas rico que se conoce, y tiene particular estimacion en todas 

 partes." Diccionario Geogrdfico-Historico de las Indias Occidentals 6 

 America, tomo iv. (1788) p. 577. 



2 Having been unable to consult the original work, I have quoted Baily's 

 translation, London, 1823. 



