BOTANY. 



49 



will one day be instituted under more propitious circumstances. 

 It will be seen, in a subsequent part of this work, that a con- 

 siderable progress has already been made, in exploring seve.- 

 ral of the Andes mountains, and rendering them of easier 

 access. 



The benefits which will accrue to the arts and sciences, 

 from the labours of Don Juan Tafaya, and the lucubratioijis 

 of the Academical Society of Lima, are incalculable. Agri- 

 culture will be ameliorated by the lights which will be thrown 

 on it, and will cease to be neglected, as it has, unfortunately, 

 hitherto been. The commerce of Peru will consequently be 

 augmented, as well by the increase of agricultural produce, 

 as by the discovery of vegetables calculated to nourish and 

 promote the breeds of quadrupeds*. This observation applies 

 equally to the plants and shrubs for dyeing, and other pur- 

 poses, the catalogue of which will be proportionately en- 

 larged -f. The limits of natural history, physics, and medi- 

 cine, will be extended ; and the latter science will more 

 especially be enriched, not only by new specifics, but like- 

 wise by the knowledge of plants, hitherto negle£ted among 



* In the plains of Bombon is found a herb, named by the Indians callua-callua^ 

 which being given every third day to sheep, beginning three months before the 

 shearing time, augments very considerably the growth of their wool. The hualgua^ 

 or harha Jovis, a species of psoralea, is highly efEcacious as a preservative against 

 the rot in sheep. 



t Among the indigenous shrubs which grow spontaneously on the mountains of 

 Peru, is that which bears the coffee. It was discovered in the year 1785, by the 

 Peruvian botanists, Ruiz and Pavon, at the foot of the mountain of Carpis, in the 

 province of Huanuco. The coffee, when prepared, was found to be of an excel- 

 lent quality, 



H US, 



