710 SMILACE^. 



having been formerh'^ shipped from Central America by way of that 

 island/ At the commencement of the last century, Jamaica was an 

 emporium for sarsaparilla, great quantities of which, according to Sloane,' 

 were brought thither from Honduras, New Spain and Peru. Its actual 

 place of growth, according to De Warszewicz (1851), is the mountain 

 range known as the Cordillera of Chiriqui, in that part of the isthmus of 

 Panama adjoining the republic of Costa Rica: here the plant grows at 

 an elevation of 4000 to 8000 feet above the level of the sea. The 

 root is brought by the natives to Boca del Toro on the Atlantic coast 

 for shipment. 



The drug consists of roots, 6 feet or more in length, bent repeatedly 

 so as to form bundles of 18 inclies long, and 4 in diameter, which are 

 secured by being twined round (but less trimly and closely than the 

 Honduras sort) with a long root of the same drug. The rhizome is 

 entirely absent, but the fibre or beard is preserved, and is reckoned a 

 valuable portion of the drug. The roots are deeply furrowed, shrunken, 

 and generally more slender than in the Honduras kind ; the bark when 

 shaved off with a penknife is seen to be brown, hard and non-mealy 

 throughout. Yet it is by no means uncommon to find roots which have 

 a smooth bark rich in starch. In colour, Jamaica sarsaparilla varies from 

 a pale earthy brown to a deeper more ferruginous hue, the latter tint 

 being the most esteemed. 



The sarsaparilla referred to at p. 704 as grown in the island of Jamaica, 

 is a well prepared drug, yet so pale in colour and so amylaceous, that it 

 finds but little favour in the English market. There were exported of it 

 from Jamaica in 1870, 17471b. f in 1871, 1290 lb. 



5. Mexican Sarsaparilla — The roots of this variety are not made 

 into bundles, but are packed in straight lengths of about 3 feet into bales, 

 the chump and portion of an angular (but not square) thorny stem being 

 frequently retained. The roots are of a pale, dull brown, lean, shrivelled, 

 and with but few fibres. When thick and large, they have a somewhat 

 starchy bark, but when thin and near the rhizome, they are non- 

 amylaceous. 



6. Guayaquil Sarsaparilla — An esteemed kind of sarsaparilla has 

 long been exported from Guayaquil (p. 705). Mr. Spruce has informed 

 us that it is obtained in most of the valleys that debouch into the plain 

 on the western side of the Equatorial Andes, but chiefly in the valley of 

 Alausi, where, in 1859, he saw plants of it at the junction of the small 

 river Puma-cocha with the Yaguachi. The plant appears to be very 

 productive, an instance being on record of as much as 75 lb. of fresh 

 roots having been obtained from a single stock.* 



Guayaquil sarsaparilla differs considerably from the sorts previously 

 noticed. It is rudely packed in large bales, and is not generally made 

 into separate hanks. The rhizome (chump) and a portion of the stem 



^ The connexion between .Jamaica and qnitia was ceded to the government of 



Central America dates back from the time Nicaragua. 



of Charles II., during whose reign (1661- - Nat. Hist, of Jamaica, i. (1707), intro- 



85), the king of the Mosquito Territory, a duction, p. Ixxxvi. 



district never conquered by the Spaniards, ^ Blu>' Books — Island of Jamaica for 1870 



applied to the governor of Jamaica for and 1871. 



protection, which was accorded. The * Journ. of Linn. Soc, Bot., iv. (1860) 



protectorate lasted until 1860, wheu Mos- 185. 



