108 
INTRODUCTION OF CINCHONA INTO INDIA. 
as botanical varieties. u I have traced these calisayas,” says Mr. Markham, 
“ from the shrub to the tree, without finding any difference in the flower or fruit 
to warrant even a variety. While still in the region of the pajonales, I found 
four or five trees, 20 to 30 feet high, with flowers and fruits of Weddell’s C. 
Calisaya var. a. veraC 
The tree named by Dr. Weddell Cinchona boliviana is now considered by that 
botanist to be hardly more than a variety of C. Calisaya , an opinion concurred 
in by Mr. Markham, who terms it var. Morada , from the bark-collectors’ desig¬ 
nation Calisaya morada. Respecting another variety, Cinchona Calisaya var. 
Verde , we find the following : 
“ The bark-collectors and other natives assured me that there are three kinds of calisaya, 
namely the Calisaya amarilla or fina (var. a. vera of Weddell), the Calisaya morada (_C. 
boliviana Wedd.), and the Calisaya verde or alba or blanca , not mentioned as far as I 
am aware, by any author. They say that the latter is a very large tree, generally grow¬ 
ing very far down the valleys and in much lower situations than the other varieties. 
The veins of the leaves are never purple, hut always a pale green,—hence the name. 
The guide Martinez had cut a tree of this variety yielding six or seven cwts. of bark, 
including canuto , or bark from the branches; and Gironda had seen a tree in the pro¬ 
vince of Munecas, in Bolivia, which yielded 10 cwts. of tabla or trunk bark alone. The 
true Calisaya of Weddell only yields three or four cwts. I was very anxious to obtain 
plants of a variety which is said to attain so large a growth, and fortunately met with 
two, which happened to be growing on the heights of Tambopata.” 
Passing over Mr. Markham’s observations on Cinchona ovata and C. micrantha , 
two valuable species of which a few specimens were obtained with great labour 
and difficulty, we find that by the 10th of May, the collection of plants was suffi¬ 
ciently large to fill the fifteen Wardian caseslaying at the port of Islay and that 
it consisted of the following: 
Cinchona Calisaya var. a vera of Weddell . 237 
•- -- morada (C. boliviana Wedd.) . 183 
- - var. /3 Josephiana Wedd. 75 
- - verde . 2 
- ovata var. a vulgaris Wedd. 9 
--— /3 rvfinervis Wedd. 16 
- micrantha (C. affinis Wedd.) . 7 
529 
No ordinary difficulties had to be encountered in the transportation of this 
precious collection, the chief of which arose from the obstacles thrown in the 
way by the petty local authorities, who with some reason, foresaw in such attempt, 
the commencing downfall of a monopoly which had been to their country a 
source of profit for generations. Another difficulty scarcely less serious, was 
that of preserving the plants from being frozen to death during a rapid journey 
over the uninhabited plains of the Cordillera, 15,000 feet above the sea-level. 
Here is Mr. Markham’s description of a part of the route: 
“ On the 17th of May I left Sandia with one Indian and two mules carrying the plants, 
and halted under a splendid range of frowning black cliffs near the summit of the 
snowy Caravaya range. On the 28th I reached the summit of the range, and commenced 
the journey over vast grass-covered plains covered with stiff white-frost; after being 11 
hours in the saddle, I stopped at an abandoned shepherd’s hut built of loose stones. The 
plants, well-covered with the tent and blankets, were placed by my side during the night, 
with the thermometer between us, which at 6 a.m. was at 20° R, the days and nights 
bitterly cold, but very fine and generally cloudless. On the 19th I was ten hours in the 
saddle, and passed the night again in an abandoned hut with the plants beside me, where 
the minimum of the thermometer was 30°. Two more journeys of similar length, when 
the minimum during the night of the 21st was 21°, and of the 22nd, 16°, brought me to 
