230 
ceived that the nerve-like filaments which 
the Indian succeeded in making him believe 
to be the entire plant, were roots only, and 
therefore ** without any leaves." This was 
doubtless a deception resorted to for the 
purpose of preventing the Jesuit from dis- 
covering the real plant ; for it has been the 
constant practice of the aborigines, and 
is so, as I am assured, till the present day, to 
enwrap in mystery and concealment every 
vegetable or other production of their 
country, which they believe to possess 
particular uses or virtues. It may also be 
matter of question, whether the cure of 
a disease of four years standing, accompa- 
nied by the foulest ulcers, could possibly 
be effected in a few days by a single dose 
of any medicine, however potent; and 
though the good father declares that he 
was an eye-witness of it, yet when we come 
to consider the dreadfully contagious na- 
ture of Leprosy, it seems hardly probable 
that Velasco would run the risk of person- 
ally visiting and watching the lay brother 
while in so advanced a stage of that loath- 
some complaint. The Indian would, of 
course, magnify the virtues of his specific, 
and the rapidity of the cure; and Velasco, 
who saw the amendment in the patient’s 
state, would, without any other intention 
than that of recording the virtues of the 
plant, promulgate, unintentionally, a highly 
exaggerated account. 
** To return, however, to my more im- 
mediate narrative. M. Marcucci, a French 
gentleman, resident at Maracaybo, having 
heard of Puche’s improved condition, and 
verified it by personal and frequent inspec- 
tion, was so much struck by the virtues of 
the Cuichunchulh, that not apparently 
aware of its weaker influence in the case 
of Senor Casanova, and hoping to benefit 
mankind in general, and to derive some per- 
sonal advantage for the support of his own 
large family, he at once made up his mind 
to go in search of the plant that produced 
it. As no vessel then offered for Jamaica, 
he had, in January, 1834, to go coastwise 
to Sasarida in Coro, to Rio Hache, and to 
Aruba, in order to reach thisisland, whence 
he soon proceeded to Chagre and Panama. 
ON THE MEDICINAL PLANT, 
CALLED CUICHUNCHULES. 
There, after a long detention, and in de- 
spair of a direct opportunity for Guayaquil, - 
he was forced to embark in small .coasting 
vessels, going occasionally in directions 
very different from his own, being almost 
always exposed to great privations, to per- 
sonal hardships, and frequently to the 
various perils that attend this sort of navi+ 
gation. At length, when M. Marcucci 
succeeded in reaching the coast of the 
Equatorial State, he found the country so 
involved in civil war, as completely frus- 
trated his attempts to penetrate into the 
interior, the hostile parties taking him for 
a spy, and compelling him to retrace his 
steps towards the sea. In the end, unable 
to overcome the obstacles that met him . 
every where in that distracted country, he 
resolved to make a wide circuit by way of 
Peru, and finding an American whaler at 
Tumbez, bound to Payta, he went on board, 
and on landing there, proceeded to Puira, 
travelling for many days over the heated 
sands; and thence, crossing the Province 
of Loxa, he was enabled to enter the State of 
the Equator, by roads almost impassable ; 
over mountains of astonishing elevation, 
and extremely cold temperatures; living . 
for a month on the. food of savages, and 
halting in Indian huts, which swarm with 
vermin, from which no precautions can 
preserve the traveller. Thus h , 
bruised withal by the fall of his horse, 
while descending an unusually steep and 
slippery path, he arrived at Cuenca, where 
his first care was to inform himself as to 
the Cuichunchulli. Indians were presently 
brought him, who assured him that they 
knew the plant perfectly, and brought him 
specimens of it, which many trials of its 
effects upon himself, proved to be perfectly 
inert. All his researches in the deserts of 
Pasul and Tzincocha, &c., which consumed ` 
much time, and occasioned great fatigues © 
were equally fruitless, and the poor man — 
iz : h 3i. d fiction at 
total failure of his enterprize, when he had 
the satisfaction of learning that Señor Bor- 
rero, the Postmaster-General of the Dis- 
trict, who resided at Cuenca, had E 
a 
administered a medicine bearing 
