166 
THE INTRODUCTION OF CINCHONA TO THE ISLAND OP 
JAMAICA. 
“How great a matter a little fire kindleth” may, in spirit, well apply to 
the present acute interest which attaches to the important question of the in¬ 
creasing demand for cinchona. Two or three centuries ago, the water-supply 
of a certain district, derived from a small lake or pool in Peru, became embit¬ 
tered by the falling into it of some cinchona-trees, so that no one near would 
use it save one close at hand, who, stricken with fever, could obtain tho 
means of quenching his thirst from no other source, and he in consequence 
quickly recovered. This circumstance becoming known, others who were ill 
from fever drank it likewise, with a similar result; and from that time bark 
was destined to become perhaps the most valuable article, certainly in hot 
climates, in the curative annamentct of the physician. In 1638, or there¬ 
abouts, the Spanish viceroy’s lady, the Countess of Chinckon, was attacked 
by fever at Lima ; and she, benefiting by the use of the remedy which had 
been found efficacious in other instances, brought it more prominently into 
notoriety, and finally gave it its popularity; hence the name of Ckinckona, 
Pnlvis Comitissac or countess’s powder. Its introduction into Europe through 
the hands of the Jesuits, at the instigation of the countess, readily explains 
the appellation of Jesuits’ bark ; and its employment in large quantity at 
Rome by an eminent prelate, the Cardinal de Lugo’s powder. From the 
moment of the discovery of its febrifuge properties has the demand for cin¬ 
chona steadily increased. At the present time, whilst its application to dis¬ 
ease is greatly extending, every one may not know that the supply from the 
South American forests has been yearly decreasing. The attempts, how¬ 
ever, which have been made to cultivate cinchona in other parts of the world 
are promising ; and it is not unreasonable to suppose that, at no far distant- 
period, the demand for quinine and the cortex from whence it is extracted, will 
be supplied in such a way as to considerably reduce the present high market 
price of these two articles. Amongst the hopeful occurrences in this respect 
are the attempts that have been recently made to cultivate cinchona in tho 
island of Jamaica, and the government of that colony has now felt itself 
justified in prosecuting the matter in a thoroughly systematic and extensive 
way. There are those who are fully persuaded that cinchona may readily 
become one of the staple commodities of the island ; and, if so, Jamaica has 
an enviable commercial prosperity in its grasp. It was in the early part of 
1866 that attempts were first S 3 r stematically made at Cold Spring to propagate- 
cinchona in the colony, under the direction of Mr. Robert Thomson. They 
entirely fulfilled the expectations that had been formed. In the beginning of 
1867, the formation of government plantations was commenced, with 800 
plants that had been reared at Cold Spring. The first point was the selec¬ 
tion of suitable sites, at an elevation of from 3000 to 6500 feet above the sea; 
but no difficulty was experienced in obtaining what was wanted in the Blue 
Mountain and St. Andrew’s ranges, the climate of which offers a close simi¬ 
larity to that of the native habitat of the cinchona. The Blue Mountain 
range runs up in parts to 8000 feet, but on an average it is no less than 5000 
feet. St. Andrew’s may be about 5100 feet in its highest portion; but there 
are extensive tracts on the east and west side of the former, ranging in level 
between 3000 and 6000 feet, which are well adapted for the cultivation. 
Hitherto the only produce there has been coffee, and this has been planted 
in the central parts and the southern slopes, as being more accessible to King¬ 
ston. Coffee has also been grown in the St. Andrew r ’s range, but only on its 
eastern side. There are, then, plenty of plantation sites adapted to the growth 
