XXII 
ON THE PACIFIC COAST 
323 
and when I afterwards fell in with the trees pro- 
ducing them, there was either no gum to be had 
or merely small fragments, sufficient for identifica- 
tion with larger masses, but not worth sending as 
specimens to England. The collection of balsams, 
gums, resins, etc., is a task requiring an Indian's 
patience. Mostly they must be gathered drop by 
drop, or incisions must be made and the trees visited 
after the lapse of months to get the lumps of coagu- 
lated juice. I was unfortunate in some things I 
tried to collect on a large scale. For instance, I 
took with me down the Rio Negro a demijohn of 
the Sassafras of that river, and several demijohns 
of a beautifully white and transparent Oil of Copaiba, 
procured on the Siapa, intending to send them to 
England and ascertain their commercial value ; 
but the person who took them down to Para not 
only received the freight beforehand, but sold the 
articles there on his own account instead of delivering 
them to my correspondent. 
[With this letter Spruce sent dried specimens of 
a gum-producing tree which grew about a mile and 
a half from the village of Chanduy, and which after 
several attempts he succeeded in reaching — " though 
I had to lie down many times by the way." He 
then concludes thus :] 
This is, I think, all your correspondent has to 
send you this time. You will see he is now good 
for little else besides talking and writing — even the 
latter is painful to him and can be done only reclin- 
ing in the hammock ; but if you will have patience 
with him, he will still try to obtain for you any 
information within his reach. — Very faithfully yours, 
Richard Spruce. 
