540 
TRADE  IN  CINCHONA   BARK  IN  BOLIVIA. 
only  spots  where  nature  has  produced  in  some  abundance  the  tree 
which  affords  this  superior  bark ;  and  in  this  respect  the  depart- 
ment of  La  Paz  is  particularly  favored. 
Shortly  after  the  period  I  have  mentioned,  the  influx  of  casca- 
rilleros  into  the  forests  became  so  considerable,  that  in  a  short 
time  there  hardly  remained  a  Cinchona  tree  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  inhabited  districts,  and  the  exports  increased  so  much  that  the 
drug  fell  to  a  low  price.  The  government  of  the  day  took,  how- 
ever, no  steps  to  remedy  such  a  state  of  things,  and  they  conse- 
quently remained  in  the  same  position  until  about  the  year  1830. 
At  that  period  the  administration  of  General  Santa  Cruz,  judging 
that  it  had  become  absolutely  necessary  to  take  some  measures  to 
prevent  the  exhaustion  of  so  precious  a  source  of  wealth,  formed 
the  idea  of  prohibiting  a  free  traffic  in  the  bark,  and  of  limiting  to 
a  certain  amount  the  quantity  which  should  thenceforth  be  collected 
in  the  forests  and  exported  from  the  republic  ;  but  the  means  em- 
ployed not  having  produced  the  expected  result,  it  was  decided 
that  the  exclusive  right  of  exportation  should  be  ceded  to  a  national 
company.  In  November,  1834,  the  congress  decreed  a  law  on  the 
subject,  but  it  still  proved  ineffectual. 
The  free  collection  of  the  bark  having  then  re-taken  its  destructive 
course,  a  new  decree  was  requisite  to  suspend  it.  The  cutting  of 
Cinchona  was  consequently  prohibited  for  five  years,  but  long  be- 
fore the  expiration  of  this  term,  the  decree  was  repealed,  and  in 
its  stead  an  export  duty  of  from  12  to  20  piastres  per  quintal  was 
levied. 
In  1841,  General  Ballivian  attained  to  power,  but  he  introduced 
into  the  trade  in  barks  no  important  change,  until,  in  the  year 
1844,  the  legislative  congress  authorised  the  government  itself  to 
negotiate  the  capital  necessary  for  the  creation  of  a  national  bank 
which  should  purchase  and  export  all  the  Cinchona  bark  produced 
in  the  country,  paying  for  it  at  a  rate  to  be  fixed  by  itself  (the 
bank),  and  which  should' bear  a  relation,  said  the  law,  to  the  funds 
which  it  (the  bank)  might  have  at  its  disposal,  and  to  the  interests 
of  the  cascarilleros. 
The  capital,  however,  for  this  operation  not  having  been  forth- 
coming, the  administration  of  Ballivian  offered  shortly  afterwards 
to  the  highest  bidder  the  exclusive  privilege  of  exporting  the  Cin- 
