379 



the province of Caraccas, or of the mountains 

 of Merida ; it is dried with great care, and ex- 

 posed purposely to smoke, in order that it may 

 become blacker. This liana grows in profusion 

 on the humid declivities of the mountains of 

 Unturan and Achivaquery. M. de Candolle f 

 is right in suspecting, that different species of 

 smilax are gathered under the name of sarsapa- 

 rilla. We found twelve new species, among 

 which the smilax siphilitica of the Cassiquiare, 

 and the s. officinalis of the river Magdalena-f, are 

 the most esteemed on account of their diuretic 

 properties. Syphilitic maladies being as com- 

 mon as benign in these countries among the 

 whites and the mixed casts, the quantity of sar- 

 saparilla employed in the Spanish colonies as a 

 domestic medicine is very considerable. We 

 see by the works of Clusius, that at the begin- 

 ning of the Conquista Europe obtained this 

 salutary medicament from the Mexican coast of 

 Honduras;}; and the port of Guayaquil. The 

 trade in zarza is now more active in those ports, 

 which have interiour communications with the 

 Oroonoko, the Rio Negro, and the Amazon. 



The trials made in several botanical gardens 

 of Europe prove, that the smilax glauca of Vir- 



* Propr. medic, p. 292. 

 t See our Nov. Gen, vol. i, p. 271. 

 % Near five thousand quintals are annually exported from 

 Vera Cruz. See my Polit. Essay, vol. ii, p. 442. 



