®fie iba&step. 
Written for Moore's Rural New-Yorker. 
LOS CASCARILLEROS; 
OP., SARK GATHERERS OF PERU AND BOLIVIA. 
BT LARDNER OTBBON. 
[Thess Notes are based on the practical experience 
of the author, who was an officer in the “ Exploration 
of the Valley of the Amaiwn." in 1833-3.— E». Rural ] 
Los Cascabillbros —bark gatherers of Peru 
and Bolivia—are men of European descent. In 
the middle of May, at the commencement of the 
dry season, they supply themselres with hatchet, 
knife, short club, dried meat, parched corn and 
medicine, and descend the Andes into the Ama¬ 
zon basin in search of bark. They follow the 
spurs of the mountains, and from the upper 
branches of tall forest trees they look out and 
survey the surrounding wilderness. With prac¬ 
ticed eye they distinguish the large bright green 
and yellow shining leaf of the cinchona tree from 
the ordinary foliage. 
The tree is felled, and the bark stripped off, 
dried, and made into 8mall bundles, ready to be 
carried on their backs to the nearest point to 
which a mule may be brought. That taken from 
the trunk of the tree is the best, that from the 
larger branches the second in quality, and that 
from the smaller, or upper branches, the least 
valuable. Two quintals of bark will make one 
quintal (one hundred pounds) when dried. The 
process of gathering the bark Is destructive, 
the tree being entirely killed. The value of the 
forest has been injured. The trees are found 
with difficulty. 
The belt of country in which the cinchona tree 
is found is the boisterous region of the earth. 
The east winds pass over the low lauds of 
Brazil. When they reach the Andes, twenty 
thousand feet in height, the way is disputed by 
stupendous odds in favor of rock. The winds 
seem to dguble themselves, and battle with 
great fury. Clouds rise up on the broad Atlan¬ 
tic, sind arc brought as if to assist the winds. 
They roll against the mountains with increased 
atmospheric pressure, electrical flashes of lire, 
and thundering. Trees are torn up by the roots; 
the earth is disturbed; rocks arc loosened, foil, 
and roll over the precipice, as. in at) earthquake. 
Yet these mountains stand, and bear it with 
wonderful composure. The winds and clouds 
weepingly give way. Some go down where it 
is very hot, and raius fall over the valley. Some 
go up where the hist drop of rain falls amidst 
the crowned heads of the Andes, in pyramids 
of perpetual snow, where there is formed an 
atmospheric veil lor the animal and vegetable 
kingdoms of Lima—on the shore of the Pacific 
Ocean—where it never rains. 
The Cascarillero roams through the wilderness 
of huge trees, tangled briars, creeping vines, 
and thickets. When he meets a tiger or lion, 
he walks up to him with short club in hand. 
As the animal springs upon him, he suddenly 
step- ttsiuc, uuu f-irure? orch. iuc oamv. 
Should he miss his aim, there is danger; for 
when the animal renews the attack he goes in 
with much anger, and sometimes kills his man. 
When he meets a troublesome serpeut, he runs 
or calls for help, 
Thin, sallow complexioncd and worn down, 
he may be seen slowly walking after au old 
horse or mule, loaded with bark, on his way up 
the mountains in November, to escape the rainy 
season in the valley of the Amazon. 
By law the hark Ls taken to a government 
agent who pays a fixed price in merchandise 
or specie. It is then put up in cotton bales, 
and covered with rawhide, each weighing one 
hundred and fifty pounds—two bales, or three 
hundred pounds, being a mule-load over the 
Cordilleras to the seaport of Arica, where it 
arrives In ten days from La Paz, paying a freight 
of twelve dollars per mule load. The price at 
Ariea varies according to the demand for quinine 
in fever and ague countries. It is carried to the 
chemists in the United States and Europe, where 
it is manufactured and bottled, and some of it is 
reshipped and sold, in the apothecary stores of 
the towns of these mountains, to those who 
enter the cinchona region, where the disease 
for which it is intended as a specific frequently 
prevails. Casearilleros have paid for one ounce 
of quinine what they are willing to sell one hun¬ 
dred pounds of burk for at the foot of the tree. 
Ihe lorcet is common to all persons who 
choose to employ themselves in gathering bark. 
All men men enter the territory, live in it, and 
are at liberty to take away with them their prop¬ 
erty, paying duties to the Treasury, according to 
the laws of police and custom-house. 
The home of the Cascarillero is among the 
Andes. His house is built of stone and thatch¬ 
ed with mountain grasses. A few taggots and a 
little fire produce a dense smoke, which fills the 
dwelling with an atmosphere which protects 
him from the cold mountain blasts of rain and 
snow. The fire is placed in the middle of the 
ground floor. The smoke has no escape but 
through the doorway, which at night and in 
cold, 6tormy weather Is closed by suspending a 
raw-hide in the passage. The inmates cook, eat, 
rest and sleep by the fire. Guinea pigs are great 
tdroriti* in ttie hoasa, They burrow under the 
ground-floor near the wall, Dogs crawl in and 
form a circle. Fowls have their roost in the 
upper part near the roof, along with the pet 
parrot, who feels thankful for the fire below, 
but chatters his objection to being smoked in 
Spanish. A sow with pigs may crowd under 
the raw-hide, while the others sleep. The quan¬ 
tity and activity of fleas is startling to a stranger. 
Potatoes, onions, garlic and pepper, boiled 
with dried or fresh mutton, furnish a meal for 
the day, which is called “chupe,”—a national 
dish of Peru. It is turned into a wooden plat- 
t-.-r and one large wooden spoon serves the 
whole family. The father is relieved by the 
mother, and so on, when the father in turn is 
handed the spoon by the youngest, child. The 
dogs sit up behind, looking on, quiet, respect¬ 
ful and good natnred, until a bone ls cast that 
way—then a fight takes place in the rear. 
Ajar which occupies a retired position in the 
darkest part of the house is kept supplied with 
a stimulating drink called “ehieha,” of which 
they all partake. Chicka Is made of corn. The 
process of manufacture is rather peculiar, but 
the mode is very popular amoug these people 
The women seat themselves by the aide of a 
wooden trough, each supplied with a lap full of 
corn, which they masticate by the mouthful, 
and spit it into the trough. Where there is a de¬ 
ficiency of a sound and complete set of grinders, 
the work is both laborious and tedious. The 
occupation is somewhat stimulating, however, 
and the oldest Inhabitants arc among the most 
active millers. The time being occupied with 
laughing and gossip, the interval is made gay. 
The glow brought to the cheeks of the young 
girls attracts their admirers, who usually stand 
looking on in pleasant anticipation. When the 
trongb contains a goodly supply, a little water 
is added. The composition is deposited iu 
earthen vessels, and after it has undergone the 
necessary fermentatiou, the liquor Is placed in 
jars ready for use as an intoxicating drink. 
Greenville District, N. C., 1S67. 
topics. 
Written for Moore's Knral New-Yorker. 
WHAT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS DO. 
“ Eight dollars n day and roast beef,” used to 
be the political cry in my boyhood about mem¬ 
bers of Congress—conveying an idea of a set of 
jolly good livers, much at their ease, and on 
large pay. Such pay, in these days, does not 
seem so vast as in the simpler times when the 
cry was raised, but the impression still remains 
♦hat these honorable gentlemen have an easy 
time —little, work, with glory and pay still 
greater than of old. I confess to have some¬ 
what shared this; hut a six months’ stay iu 
Washington in daily contact with these men has 
convinced me that they work, and must work. A 
lazy man has a poor chance there. He may go 
once possibly, but again never. 
A glimpse at the calls on their time and strength 
may be of interest; for the people should know 
how their servants are occupied. Breakfast, at 
private boarding houses, Is at eight o'clock; at 
hotels from seven to eleven. A Congressman 
of course must be up and dressed for his morn¬ 
ing meal. He finds his mail at his door or 
beside his breakfast plate; a acorn of letters 
from constituents, politicians and private friends, 
— all to be read, answered, and the mauy errands 
asked for to be done. These errauds may fill 
hours of time, and carry him all over the city. 
They must be done; for hia constituents are hi8 
friends and supporters, and their affairs have 
special and imperative claims. Ilia meal finished 
nc goes to ms mortif wmen m.-sy v*c uiioci tnc 
same roof or in some other house, and may find 
from one to a score of persons waiting to see 
him, all urging public business, or pressing for 
help in private claims. Some of these bring 
advice aud suggestions of value; others are 
bores who never know when to get through and 
go away. Possibly ho may have an hour alone, 
bat with letters and public matters it is full. 
Often he is compelled to go to the Patent Office 
or the State or Treasury Departments, absurdly 
at a mile's distance or more from the Capitol. 
Most members belong to some committee of 
the House or Senate, sometimes to several. 
Some of these do a vast amount ot work, and 
meet often. Thus when ten o’clock comes he 
may have a committee meeting to attend, held 
in some of the beautiful rooms of the Capitol. 
At twelve o'clock both Houses meet, and usually 
sit until between four and five—sometimes hold¬ 
ing evening sessions. Members write and read 
some, but mast keep a run of what la passing, be 
ready for votes on whatever is up, and hear what 
they can in the “noise and confusion” ot the 
House, where not one speech in fifty is quietly 
heard. The Senate, with fewer members, is 
stiller. Dinner, at noon , Ls unknown in Wash¬ 
ington. In spacious rooms beneath the halls of 
the House and Senate, are refreshment tables 
where members and others lunch on luxuries if 
time and purse allow, or on simpler fare, more 
readily disposed of. Very interesting it Is to 
meet these dignitaries In the passage ways with 
cake and pie iu hand, like big boys after a visit 
to the pantry. No liquors are sold or used, 
and all is civil and orderly. Outsiders are not 
allowed — save in special cases — on the floor of 
cither House; but, from the half- dozen doors, 
messages are constantly sent in, and members 
called out, or asked to do whatever is needed by 
those outside. As each mail comes in, It is sent 
to their desks from post-offices in either wing of 
the Capitol, and again at evening to their rooms. 
At adjournment ail leave, sharp-set for the 
meal of the day, and cars and sidewalks are 
thronged often by a thousand persons hastening 
to their diuner. At four o’clock the four thou¬ 
sand Jive hundred clerks and officials in the 
Departments leave, so that tides of life meet and 
cross and mingle on the broad sidewalks, at full 
flood, for au hour or more. After dinner a mem¬ 
ber is likely to find still more callers at his room, 
or perhaps a committee meeting, or an evening 
session at the Capitol. Then comes, to fill up 
the corners of spare time, the franking of 
speeches and documents to his friends iu his 
district.—a labor sometimes so great that clerks 
are employed at night to direct the thousands of 
these sent off', which are gathered op by wagons 
which traverse tbe city for that purpose. Of 
course there are frequent private meetings to 
discuss and decide on public affairs. Then come 
evening “receptions” at the residences of Cabi¬ 
net Ministers and Senators, levees at the White 
House, and many other places of resort, high or 
THE BELL-BIRD OF SOUTH AMERICA — (Chasmorhynchu 3 uudicollis.) 
Our illustration of this remarkable bird is 
from life. It is very like, but not the same, as 
that described by Charles Waterton; the ab¬ 
sence of a singular wattle over the tipper bill, 
beiug almost the sole difference. 
The difference in vocal powers Is remarkable, 
however. It is generally in the early part of tbe 
day that this bird sends forth its loud and won¬ 
derful notes. The first note Is a loud, harsh, 
and somewhat grating noise; this is followed by 
Six or eight, fine, clear, metallic-ringin g notes, 
with an interval of about *, second between each 
low, until a late hour comes before sleep visits 
the weary eyes of these men of many occupations. 
In the past few years, with the rapid growth of 
the country, the varied labors of Congressmen 
have greatly increased, and this glimpse will 
show that they have enough to do. An honest 
man, wishing to discharge his duties, will find 
Ilia strength fully taxed, while a selfish politician 
must perform a great deal of work to keep his 
position. 
A word on the franking privilege. Public 
Documents, Reports on Agriculture, &c., &c., 
are paid for by Government, but speeches are 
paid for by the members, and the only cost to 
tbe Government is the wrapping and sending by 
mail. Thus, Information on all aides of all pub¬ 
lic questions goes fur and wide, at small public 
cost, which would not otherwise be the ease, 
and the privilege, liable to abuse a - it may be, is 
well, on the whole. s. 
CONSUMPTION OF POSTAGE STAMPS. 
Twentt tons, or, by superficial measurement, 
forty-eight and one-half square acres of postage 
stamps, have been used during the year; enough 
to roof a large township, with all its houses, 
churches, barns, gardens, forests and farms; or, 
if you choose to make ribbon of them, enough 
to reach nearly from the equator to either pole, 
or twice the length of the Mississippi River. 
So that, If everybody would be obliging euough 
to use the government stamp on the envelope 
itself, the mere omission of these little extra bite 
of paper would lighten the mall bugs, by more 
than forty thousand pounds, and save in paper 
fifteen or twenty thousand dollars. The Post- 
Master-Generul does not impart this information 
in so many words, but he assures us that nearly 
three hundred and fifty millions of stamps have 
been sold in the year past, besides nearly forty 
millions of stamped envelopes; and a simple 
calculation reduces the story to the more tangi¬ 
ble form we have given it —Scientific American. 
What Industry will Do—Under this head 
the Waco (Texas) Register has the following, 
which hoys and young mea iu the country should 
read and heed: — “ Last year a young man living 
near this place, Albert Stars, rented a jiecc of 
good land, hired one good old freedman, and 
with his own hands went to work to cultivate 
the soil. He worked manfully and well. And 
now for the fruits of bis industry : — He has 
gathered twenty-four bales of cotton, two thou¬ 
sand bushels of com, and made four hundred 
gallons of molasses from sorghum. He also has 
some pork to spare. He bus sold sixteen hun¬ 
dred bushels of corn for $1,300 in gold, obtained 
$300 tor hia molasses, and his cotton is good for 
$1,800 more—making in all $3,300. He was at 
some trilling extra expense during cotton pick¬ 
ing time.” 
note. The resemblance of these to the sound o^ 
an anvil is most extraordinary, and has given 
rise to its local native name of the Anvil-bird, 
1 though it Is called by Europeans the Bell-bird. 
It is a native of Brazil, and lives almost wholly 
on fruit. But little larger than a missel-thrush, 
its pLumngc is perfectly white; the eyes pale 
gray; the naked throat, and skin round the eyes 
a fine, bright green. Its wondrous note, lou/l 
and dear, like the tone of a bell, or the ring of 
an anvil, may be heard three miles, astonishing 
the hearer, 
THE OLDEST REPUBLIC IN EXISTENCE. 
The oldest republic iu existence is that of San 
Marino, in Italy, between the Appenines, the 
Po and the Adriatic, The territory of this State 
is only forty miles in eirenmferenee, and its 
present population about 7,000. The republic 
was founded more than 1,400 years ago on moral 
principles, Industry and eqnity, and has pre¬ 
served its liberty and independence amid all the 
wars and discord which have raged around it. 
Bonaparte respected it and sent an embassy to 
express his sentiments of friendship and frater¬ 
nity. It is governed by a Captain-Regent, 
who is chosen every six months by the rep¬ 
resentatives of the people, (sixty-six in num¬ 
ber,) who are chosen every six months by the 
people. The taxes are light, the farm houses 
are neat, the fields well cultivated, and on all 
sides are seen comfort and plenty, the happy 
effect of morality, simplicity and frugality. 
ANTIQUITY OF “YANKEE DOODLE.” 
Mr, William C. Bryant, lately traveling in 
Spain, relates that some time since, when Mr 
Perry, Secretary of the American Legation at 
Madrid, was in one of the Basque provinces, he 
heard a band playing their old national airs. 
The Basques have preserved whatever is pecu¬ 
liar to them, tlieir langnage, their customs, and 
many of their political rights, from the earliest 
period in which they are known in history; 
their national music is claimed to be of the 
same antiquity. After the band had played sev¬ 
eral other airs, it struck up Yankee Doodle, the 
very time, in every note, which is so familiar to 
American ears. Mr. Perry immediately claimed 
it as our national air, “ It is one of our old 
tunes,” said a gentleman to whom he spoke, 
“ and I can convince you of the fact. For hun¬ 
dreds of years it has been a popular air among 
us.” The gentleman afterwards made good his 
assertion by showing Mr. Perry a manuscript of 
great antiquity which contained the identical 
musical notes of “ Yankee Doodle.” 
1 - - - - ■ 
Mount Hood, Oregon, is reported 17,000 feet 
in height, the loftiest peak in the United States, 
and a volcano. Prof. Alphonso Wood, of Ore¬ 
gon, who measured the altitudes by obsurving 
the boiling point of water, found the summit of 
the Cascade Range and foot of Mount Hood 
proper, at an elevation of 4,400 feet: limit of 
forest trees, 0,000 feet; highest, limit of vegeta¬ 
tion, LI,000 feet. On the flanks of the mountain 
are glaccries, and on the north side a precipice 
of a vertical mile of bare columnar rock. The 
crater is of great extent, with an original de¬ 
pression estimated not less than 1,000 feet deep, 
and an open abyss vomiting sulphurous smoke, 
on the west side. The area oi tbe mountain 
summit is crescent-shaped, half a mile long, and 
from three to fifty feet wide. 
Reading toe % Hoang. 
THE BAREFOOT BOY. 
Blessinos on thee, little man, 
• Barefoot boy, with cheeks of tan t 
With upturned pantaloons. 
And thy merry whistled tunes— 
With thy red lip, redder still 
Kissed by strawberries on the hill— 
With the sunshine on thy face, 
Through thy torn brim's jaunty grace; 
From my heart 1 give thee joy, 
I was once a barefoot boy. 
Oh I for boyhood's painless play. 
Sleep that wakes in laughing day, 
llealtl) that mocks the doctor's rules, 
Knowledge never learned at schools 
Of the wild bee's morning chase. 
Of the wild flower's time and place, 
Flight of fowls and habitude 
Of the tenants of the wood, 
How the tortoise boars his shell, 
How the woodchuck digs his coll, 
And the ground mole sinks his well, 
How the robin feeds her young, 
now the oriole's nest is hung; 
Where the whitest lilies blow, 
Whcro the freshest berries grow. 
Where the ground uut trailH its vine, 
Where the wood-grape clusters slii ne ; 
Of the black wasp'H cunning way. 
Mason of his walls of clay, 
And the architectural plans 
Of gray-hornot artisans 1 
For, eschewing books and tasks. 
Nature answers all be asks; 
Hand In band with her he walks, 
Face to face with her he talks, 
Part and parcel of her joy— 
Blessings on the barefoot boy 1 
Cheerily, then, my tittle man, 
Live and laugh, as boyhood can, 
Thongh the flinty slopes be bard, 
Stubble-spread the now-mown sward, 
Every mom shall Raid thee through 
Fresher baptism of the dew; 
Every evening from thy feet 
Shall the cool wind kiss the heat; 
And too soon those feet shall hide 
In tho prison cells of pride, 
Lose the freedom of the sod, 
Like a colt for work be shod. 
Made to tread the mills of toil, 
Up aud down in ceaseless moll— 
Happy If thy truck be found 
Never cm forblddeu ground — 
Happy If they sink not in 
Quick and treacherous sands of sin. 
Ah l that ttieo may know thy Joy, 
Eire it passes, barefoot boy I 
A TALK WITH BOYS AITD GIRLS. 
Bors and Giri.3, may I have a little talk with 
you ? I want to tell about tbo little old school 
house where I used to go, when a boy. It was 
“away down East,” in Massachusetts. Just a 
brown, unpuinted house with no yard or trees 
around it, but standing close by the road-side. 
Yet the roud was very pleasant; not narrow, but 
a wiae, gruisiy street, with fartn-howts scattered 
along every few roils, and great elm trees spread¬ 
ing their branches high over the chimney tops. 
The trees were very old; for an dm wants a 
hundred years to grow in, and then It is very 
large, its great limbs spread wide, and its 
branches have everlso many nice places for bird’s 
nests. How I used to love to He In the grass in 
the shade of the old elms and watch the birds 
going to their nests and hear their songs! 
Down the road a little way was “ Mill River,” 
a clear stream, perhaps fifty feet wide, with a 
wooden bridge over it, brown and old. Just 
below the bridge was a ledge of rocks reaching 
across the river, over which the water waved 
aud foamed, aud flashed in the sunlight, and 
then ran on still and quiet to the “ deep hole,” 
dowu under the shade of some tall oaks, where 
it was so deep—aw&y over the top of the head of a 
man. Such a nice place as that was for the “ big 
boys" to dive from the trees into the deep 
water, and stay under so long we little fellows 
thought they might not corac up again. Far 
away sprcad t tlie green meadows and fields, and 
the blue mountains rose up beyond, grandly 
beautifuL Those farm-houses were very old — 
some built more than a hnndred years ago, with 
great chimneys, and little windows, aud carved 
door-posts aud fire-places, ever so large. The 
school house was so low that the teacher, if ho 
was a tall man, had to stoop his heud u« he went, 
under the stove pipe, aud the seats and benches 
were all cut up by the knives of roguish whit- 
tlers. We had no blackboards, no singing, fewer 
books, and not so good as you have uow. You 
ought to know more than, we do. Now, the hoys and 
girls who used to bo in that old school house, 
are grown up men and women, and live far 
apart—some in California, some in England aud 
France, some in New York and in the West. 1 
remember Just how they looked on those old 
seats, and thinking about them as I w rite, makes 
me fuel as though I was a boy again in the old 
brown school house. 
MEN ONE WOULD RATHER NOT MEET. 
Men who tell stories that run into one another, 
so that you find it very difficult to get away at 
the end of any of them. 
Men who have quarrelled with all their re¬ 
lations. 
Men who have been betrayed aud abaudoned 
in the most heartless manner by all their friends. 
Men who have been persecuted and swindled 
by a general conspiracy of everybody. 
Mea who imitate popular actors. 
Men who are always asking, “Don’t you 
think so?” 
Men who arc always “putting a case.” 
Mon who agree with you too much. 
Men “ who feel inclined to join issue with you 
there.” _ 
