1HE PLATEAU OF CAXAMARCA. 391 



vian Viceroy, arrived from Lima, (where she had been cured 

 of an intermittent fever,) accompanied by her physician, Juan 

 del Vego. The finest kind of Cinchona is obtained at the 

 distance of from eight to twelve miles southward of the town 

 of Loxa, among the mountains of Uritusinga, Villonaco, and 

 Rumisitana. The trees which yield this bark grow on mica 

 slate and gneiss, at the moderate elevations of 5755 and 

 7673 feet above the level of the sea, nearly corresponding, 

 respectively, with the heights of the Hospital on the Grimsel, 

 and the Pass of the Great St. Bernard. The Cinchona Woods 

 in these parts are bounded by the little rivulets Zamora and 

 Cachyacu. 



The tree is felled in its first flowering season, or about the 

 fourth or seventh year of its growth, according as it may have 

 been reared from a strong shoot or from seed. At the time 

 of my journey in Peru we learned, with surprise, that the 

 quantity of the Cinchona Condaminea annually obtained at 

 Loxa by the Cascarilla gatherers, or Quina hunters ( Casca- 

 rilleros and Cagadores de Quina) ^ amounted only to 110 hun- 

 dred weight. At that time none of this valuable product 

 found its way into commerce ; all that was obtained was ship- 

 ped at Payta, a port of the Pacific, and conveyed round Cape 

 Horn to Cadiz, for the use of the Spanish Court. To procure 

 the small supply of 11,000 Spanish pounds, no less than 800 or 

 900 Cinchona trees were cut down every year. The older and 

 thicker stems are becoming more and more scarce ; but such 

 is the luxuriance of growth, that the younger trees, which now 

 supply the demand, though measuring only six inches in 

 diameter, frequently attain the height of from 53 to 64 feet. 

 This beautiful tree, which is adorned with leaves five inches 

 long and two broad, seems, when growing in the thick woods, 

 as if striving to rise above its neighbours. The upper branches 

 spread out, and when agitated by the wind the leaves have 

 a peculiar reddish colour and glistening appearance which is 

 distinguishable at a great distance. The mean temperature of 



