80 
PERUVIAN CINCHONAS. 
together, as from the resin alone. The quantity of resin obtained from an average-sized 
“ black boy ” was about 45 lb. weight. This was collected easily at the rate of 5 lb. per 
hour, by a person having for his tools an axe and a sieve. 
Should the resin be collected for export, I am satisfied that by a proper arrangement 
of crushers and sieves, a labourer, at 4s. per diem (the colonial rate), could collect at least 
one hundredweight per diem, enabling the resin to be brought to market, at Freemantle, 
for £4i per ton, the ton weight measuring forty-five cubic feet when pressed. The 
quantity of pure gas obtained by Captain Wray’s experiments was at least four cubic 
feet to the pound of resin and leaves, but much more might be obtained by a more com¬ 
plete apparatus. 
A cart-load of the plants, eight in number, weighed 1,048 pounds. When the core 
was removed, the leaves and resin weighed 628 pounds. This core is very good fuel 
when mixed with other wood. The specific gravity of the gas is *888. The products of 
the distillation are gas, tar, and coke. The tar obtained was about one quart for every 
10 lb,, and this, when re-distilled, gave 8 per cent, fluid oz. of naphtha, and 20 per cent, 
of a sweet, spirituous, non-inflammable liquor. The coke remaining was about one- 
quarter of the original weight, and with other fuel burns well. The coke of the leaf 
has a bright shining appearance, and when groiind with oil, is a very good substitute for 
lamp-black in paint. The gas has a smell somewhat similar to coal gas, not nearly so 
offensive, but sufficiently strong to make any escape immediately perceptible. Its illu¬ 
minating power appears to be very superior to coal gas, and its light very white. 
Captain Wray is of opinion that when the production of the gas from the resin of the 
Xanthorr'hcea is conducted with suitable apparatus, the cost per annum will be materially 
reduced, so far, indeed, that the resip may beoon^ a large and profitable export from 
the colony, to places which are not lighted at all, or lighted with oil. The supply is 
almost unlimited; and even were it not so, it would be advantageous to get rid of the 
plant from all the land fit for cultivation. Should it be found, however, that the plant 
was likely to get scarce, the resin might be obtained by tapping .—The Technologist. 
PEKUVIAN CINCHONAS. 
We have been favoured with the following letter for publication relating to the Cin¬ 
chona:— 
“ I was glad to see from your letter that the seteds had turned out a success. I was 
in Peru during some three years, in daily contact with the Cascarilleros (as the quinine 
bark collectors are called) of both Peru and Bolivia. I always found the Cascarilleros 
ready to assist in anything I wanted. I went with them on their bark-hunting expedi¬ 
tions far into the interior, and made a collection of plants, leaves, etc., to bring home to 
Europe, which, however, were all lost in the siege of La Paz, in 1863, when our house 
was completely sacked, being close to the part of the town entered by the besiege^. I 
only saved the bag of seeds, which, luckily, was in my portmanteau with clothes, and 
which, fortunately, are from the district considered as the finest Cascarilla of Bolivia; 
the bark from that part (the head-waters of the river Beni) fetching a far higher price 
•than any other in South America, at least so the best China bark merchants assure me. 
“As I had not sufficient knowledge of the trees myself, for there are various species 
of this tree growing everywhere, I trusted to some Indian cascarilleros whom I knew, 
and think they did not deceive me when they assured me that this was the finest sort; 
the seeds were collected in 1861, in the forests on the east side of the river Massiri, in 
the province of Laricaja, lat. 14^° S., long. 70^° W. The Massiri is a tributary of the 
Beni, a principal branch of the Madera arm of the Amazon, and inhabited by the Takana 
Indians, from whom I received much kindness. They live exclusively along the river, 
their principal food being fish and monkeys, though some of the nearer ones, as at 
Huanay, have maize and sugar-cane. Cotton, both white and nankeen, grows every¬ 
where in abundance, wild, as a perennial shrub or tree; quality excellent, and nearly 
equal to Sea Island, as I have had them tested in Manchester. They are very clever in 
making woven articles of this cotton. 
“ The bark tree is not found along the rivers, but at from 1000 to 4000 feet higher 
up, either in single trees or small clumps amongst the other trees, easily recognisable 
