. 
ON THE CASCARILLAS OF 
transmitted to Lima, and thence to Eu- 
"imaginary way of the river Marañon. 
; In the Cinchona forests of Huanuco, the 
collectors were very attentive even to va- 
grew on steep declivities or mountain-tops, 
rejecting the finest trunks that stood col- 
lected in promising groups, (manchas, ) 
s where the soil appeared moist and the air 
. warm and deficient in proper ventillation. 
.. Forthis reason the price of the produce va- 
is ried considerably even in small districts, that 
_ rind being most costly which was obtained 
. from the coldest and most elevated spots. 
e The provinces of Conchuros and Guama- 
lies abound in forests of Cinchonas; near 
the villages of Cayambe and Pillao, and in 
Cuchero and Cassapi, and on the moun- 
. tains of Panataguas and Pampayaco, the 
very best kinds are procured. That from 
. Pozuzo is small and inferior; while the 
: of the Cascarilla hoja de Oliva, 
Which grows only in small quantities near 
San Rafael, is considered the finest of all. 
With the exception of some few hacien- 
das, all the above-mentioned countries, 
Which teem with Cinchona trees, belong 
to no individual in particular; and it is 
the same with the unappropriated wilds of 
the Huallaga, which are uninhabited, and 
em as if a single regulation 
of any kind existed with reference to the 
. Cascarillas. X 
awise, and a certain degree of prac- 
249 
CUCHERO AND HUANUCO. 
tice is necessary to perform this operation 
properly, so as to remove the rind without 
injuring the wood or severing any of the 
fibres. With the same instrument they 
take off the stripes (/onjos) of the bark, as 
broad as possible, but this, however, is not 
done for three or four days after the tree 
is felled, as, before that time, the moisture 
that exists between the cuticle and the 
wood would prevent the bark from sever- : 
ing into such large pieces as fetch the 
highest price. A worse consequence en- 
sues from stripping the stems off too 
quickly, as then the thin grey or blackish 
epidermis shivers off, and from the pre- . 
sence of this outward rind, covered with 
many Cryptogamia, the value of the bark, 
in the European market, is mainly esti- 
mated. The English purchasers in parti- 
cular, held the notion that the bark was 
most powerful according as its epidermis 
was covered with spots. 
On the celerity with which the article is 
dried depends the price which it com- 
mands; but there are few instances where 
prejudice is so powerful as in the trade of 
the Cinchonas. In the dense forests it is 
impossible to perform this operation pro- 
nearest inhabited place, where the person 
appointed to take the charge of them is 
stationed. Without any preparation, they 
are laid in a spot exposed to the full action _ 
of the sun, the greatest care being requi- 
site to protect them from wet, as even a few 
hours' dew falling on the half-dried bark 
will give to the cinnamon-brown interior of 
ay the finest sort a blackish appearance, and 
lessen its value about one 
quickness of the drying, and the general 
excellence of the article are indicated by 
the pieces being rolled up into several 
spiral windings, which form so solid a cy- 
linder as to exhibit no cavity (canuto) 
within: but such portions are rarely seen 
unfractured in Europe. The Cinchona 
Barks are no less sensible of atmospheric 
moisture than the Coca which I formerly 
described, so that the collectors always — 
hasten to send them to the dry climate of — — 
