24 
THE ANGOSTUEA BAEK. 
the foot of the hills that surround the missions Capapui, 
Upata, and Alta Gracia. The Caribbee Indians malce use 
of an infusion of the bark of the ouspare, ■which they con- 
sider as a strengthening remedy. M. Bonpland discovered 
the same tree west of Cumana, in the gulf of Santa Pe, 
where it may become one of the articles of exportation from’ 
New Andalusia. 
The Catalonian monks prepare an extract of the Cortex 
angosturae, winch they send to the convents of their 
province, and which deserves to be better known in the 
north of Europe. It is to be hoped that the febrifuge and 
antidysenteric bark of the bonplandia will continue to be 
employed, notwithstanding the introduction of another 
described by the name of false Anpostura harh, and often 
confounded with the former. This false Angostura, or 
Angostura Meudo-ferruginea, comes, it is said, from the 
Brucea antidysenterica; it acts powerfully on the nerves 
produces violent attacks of tetanus, and contains, according 
to the experiments of Pelletier and Caventon, a peculiar 
alkaline substance* analogous to morpbine and strychnine. 
As the tree which yields the real Cortex angostinm does 
not grow in great abundance, it is to be -wished that plan- 
rations of it were formed. The Catalonian monks are well 
fitted to spread this kind of cultivation; they are more 
economical, industrious, and active than the other mis- 
sionaries. Thejr have already established tan-yards and 
cotton-spinning in a few villages; and if they sufier the 
■^“7^®,''ei«eforth to enjoy the fruit of their labours, they 
wiU find great resources in the native poimlation. Con- 
centered on a small space of land, these monks have the 
consciousness of their political importance, and have from 
rtme to time resisted the civil authority, and that of their 
The governors who reside at Angostura have 
struggled against them with very unequal success, according 
as the ministry of Madrid showed a complaisant deference 
• Brucine. M. Pelletier has wisely avoided using the word anqostu- 
rtne, because it might indicate a substance taken from the real Cortei 
angosturse, or Bonplandia trifoliata. {Annates de CAiniie, vol. xii, 
p. 117.) \\ e saw at Pera the barks of two new species ofweinmannia 
and wintera mixed with those of cinchona ; a mixture less dangerous, but 
stiu injurious, on account of the superabundance of tannin and acrid 
matter contained in the false cascarilla. 
