

BALSAM COLLECTION AT JUISNAGUA. 



of latitude, is the principal port of the province for going to 1864-. 

 New Spain and Peru." 1 



The following passage from I)e Laet's Novus Orbis sen, De- De Laet's 

 scriptio Indice Occidentalis, a work held in deserved esteem, is of account - 

 peculiar interest as proving that the custom of charring the 

 trunks of the balsam-trees was pursued by the Indians in early 

 times, while the Spaniards had their own method of collecting 

 the balsam. It occurs in the chapter headed " San Salvador, 

 San Miguel, Chuluteca specialis descriptio harum provinci- 

 arum et eorum quce halent peculiaria" and may be thus ren- 

 dered : 



" On the borders of the district of Guaymoco, grow many 

 trees which afford balsam : and the entire coast, which is called 

 Tonala, produces trees, the timber of which is exceedingly com- 

 pact and heavy, and of which in a certain temple there are 

 columns fifty feet in height. In the summer the natives collect 

 the juice of the balsam-tree, after' slightly burning the bark of 

 the stem ; but the Spaniards allow it to exude by itself : the 

 tree bears fruit like almonds, which contain a golden-coloured 

 juice." 2 



The opposite woodcut, taken from a coloured sketch made Dr. 0. Dorut's 

 upon the spot by Dr. Dorat, represents the collection of the 

 balsam at Juisnagua near Sonsonate. 



1 " On trouve en ceste province plusieurs fontaines et sources d'eaux 

 chandes ayant diverses proprietes, vertus, et coulenrs : il y a du bausnie, 

 beau et beaucoup, que les Espagnols cognurent sans 1'apprendre des Indiens, 

 contre ce qu'eii auteur en escrit. Plus il y a de Pambre liquide, la gomme 

 anime, copal et suchicopal, et autres sortes des gommes et liqueurs tres-par- 



faits Le havre Acaxutla, pres de la Trinite a 13 degres de 



haulteur, est le principal port de la province, pour aller en Ncuf Espagne, et 

 en Peru." Description des Indes Occidentales, traduit de I'Etpagnol, Amst. 

 1622, cap. xii. I have also consulted the Spanish edition published at 

 Madrid, 1601-15. 



2 " In finibus Guaymoco pagi, plurimrc nascuntur ai bores, quse Balsamuni 

 edunt ; universaque ora. quam Tonalam vocunt, nntrit arbores adinodurn 

 firma atque ponderosa materie, e qua in quodam templo repcriuntur columnse 

 qiiinqiiaginta pedes altae. Indigense liquorem Balsaini colligunt restate 

 cortice trunci leviter adusto ; Hispani autem per se emanare sinunt : fert 

 arbor ilia fructus amygdalis similes, quibus inestsuccus aurei coloris." Novus 

 Orbis sen Descriptio Indice Occidentalis, Libri xviii., auctore Joanne de Laet, 

 Lugd. Batav. 1633, lib. vii. c. 1 1. 



