192 



PROVINCE OF YURACARES. 



reported to have been found in its streams, though we were unsuccess- 

 ful!, after washing all the way down from the top. We did not see the 

 people gathering cinchona bark, prohibited by a decree of the govern- 

 ment. Few of these trees are on our way down, yet we saw trains of 

 mules loaded with bark crossing the Andes on their way to the Pacific, 

 and workmen packing it uj) in bales in the bank at Cochabamba. Un- 

 less a different system is followed in the gathering, this valuable article 

 of trade will be lost. The lands wooded with cinchona trees belong to 

 the government. Private individuals have no control over the preser- 

 vation of these parts of the forest. All who desire to gather may do so; 

 this is a destructive plan. Every man in the country has an interest in 

 the trade; yet, those who reap the greatest benefit by it, destroy every 

 tree they meet, chopping it down, and stripping every inch of bark from 

 its trunk and limbs. 



