IPECACUANHA. 



193 



riments, for their introduction into Pernambuco 

 is recent. * 



Ipecacuanha. — Although this is at present 

 only to be found in a wild state, I have inserted 

 it here, for it must shortly take its place among 

 cultivated plants. The small quantity exported 

 is procured by the Indians and other persons of 

 the same rank and habits of life, in the thickest 

 woods. It thrives most in the shade. The 

 plant is destroyed also by many of the larger 

 kinds of game, to which it serves as food. 

 There are two species of it which are distin- 

 guished by the names of white and black Ipeca- 

 cuanha ; the latter is that which is used for me- 

 dicinal purposes in Europe, t The white is used 



* Labat says, in speaking of cacao, " On ne manque jamais 

 de planter du manioc en meme terns quon met les amandes en 

 terre." This is done for the purpose of defending the plant 

 from the sun. " On arrache le manioc aa bout de douze ou 

 quinzc inois" — " et sur le champ on en plant e d'autres, mais 

 en moindre quantite, c'est a dire, quon ne met qu'un rang de 

 fosses au milieu des allees ;" and he recommends that the 

 water-melon, the common melon, and such like plants should 

 be sown between the mandioc and the cacao-trees. — Nou- 

 veau Voyage, &c. torn. vi. p. 397, 398. 



f Labat is angry at a notion which was entertained in his 

 time by some people, that the black Ipecacuanha was only 

 to be found near to the gold mines in the interior of Rio de 

 Janeiro, He speaks of a third species of Ipecacuanha, 

 which he distinguishes by the epithet of gris, and he like- 

 wise mentions the white kind ; both of these, he says, answer 

 the same purpose as the black, but a larger dose is required. 

 — Nouveau Voyage, &c. torn. vi. p. 'J 0. 



VOL. II. O 



