jan.— mar. 1857.] Peruvian Bark-tree. 



219 



M. Wed dell has likewise given interesting details of the present 

 condition of the Cinchona forests and of the measures adopted by 

 the Bolivian Government to regulate the trade. The discovery of 

 quinine in 1820 gave a new impulse to the bark trade of Upper 

 Peru from which province alone the Calisaya bark, yielding by 

 far the largest proportion of quinine, is obtained. In 1830 Gene- 

 ral Santa Cruz, then President of the Bolivian Republic attempted 

 to check the wasteful destruction of the forests by a series of ill- 

 digested measures which only tended to aggravate the evil. In 

 1845 a monopoly was given to a commercial house, a principal con- 

 dition of which was that the exports should not exceed 20,000 

 quintals (2,000,0001bs.) during the five years for which it was grant- 

 ted. The stipulation was not observed. Other monopolies fol- 

 lowed and in the last two years of M. Weddell's stay (1849-50) the 

 quantity of bark brought into the market from Bolivia alone was 

 3,000,0001bs. No wonder then that he foretells the utter extinc- 

 tion of the trade at no very distant period. It appears that the 

 bark from the lower part of the tree is more valuable than that grow- 

 ing higher up. Many trees were observed by him in the course of , 

 his excursions, to have been barked only as high as the arm 

 could reach. Othei'3 which had been cut down were stripped only 

 on the upper side because the cascarilleros would not take the trou- 

 ble to turn them ! As a proof of the progressive diminution of the 

 tree he cites the fact that whereas the Calisaya was, at a compara- 

 tively recent period to be found every where in the neighbourhood of 

 the most populous tracts, it is impossible now to see a tree of 2 or 

 3 feet in diameter without penetrating several days' journey into 

 the deepest parts of the forests. 



never observed, and complaints have been made that the quantity allowed to be 

 exported has been greatly exceeded. What would it be, then, if the restrictions 

 were entirely removed, as they are in most other parts, and especially in Peru, 

 where the exportation, during some years, has attained to an extent which is al- 

 most incredible ? 



" In New Granada, at the time when the commerce of cinchona bark was carri- 

 ed to the greatest extent, that is to say at the commencement of this century, the 

 quantity exported from Carthagena alone amounted in one year, 1808, to the 

 enormous extent of 1,200,000 pounds. In the present day, on the contrary,, 

 scarcely any is exported. 



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