544 
TRADE  IN  CINCHONA  BARK  IN  BOLIVIA, 
carilleros  would  neglect  to  remove  all  the  bark  which  lay  next  the 
earth,  in  order  to  avoid  the  trouble  of  turning  the  trunk. 
Whatever  may  be  said,  the  forests  of  Bolivia,  rich  as  they  are, 
cannot  long  resist  continued  attacks  of  the  kind  to  which  they  have 
been  recently  subjected.  Those  who  in  Europe  think  they  see 
enormous  and  ever-growing  masses  of  Cinchona,  may  well  imagine 
a  perpetual  abundance.  But  he  who  seeks  in  the  localities  where 
the  Cinchona  is  produced,  to  ascertain  how  much  of  it  exists,  is 
compelled  to  form  another  opinion.  The  single  fact  will  effectually 
show  the  constantly  progressive  diminution  of  the  Cinchona,* 
namely,  that  formerly  it  was  everywhere  to  be  met  with  in  the 
neighborhoods  of  the  inhabited  places  of  the  region,  whereas  now, 
to  find  a  tree  of  some  decimetres  diameter,  one  must  generally  make 
a  journey  of  several  days  into  the  recesses  of  the  forests.  But 
unless  these  forests  be  interminable,  which  they  are  not,  or  the 
trees  that  are  felled  be  replaced  by  others,  which  unfortunately  is 
very  rarely  the  case,  how  can  a  traffic,  conducted  like  that  of  which 
I  have  spoken,  be  carried  on  for  an  indefinite  period  ?  By  all 
evidence  it  is  plain  that  the  Calisaya  bark,  if  continued  to  be  col- 
lected in  this  manner,  will,  sooner  or  later,  more  or  less  completely 
disappear  from  our  markets  (unless,  however,  the  government  at- 
tends to  its  reproduction),  and  the  commoner  species  of  Cinchona 
which  will  replace  it,  will,  in  their  turn,  doubtless  share  the  same 
fate. 
Before  the  misfortune  which  I  foresee,  arrive  (and  it  will  not  be 
in  our  day),  science  will  perhaps  have  made  the  conquest  of  some 
new  remedy  which  will  render  the  loss  of  Peruvian  bark  less  to  be 
regretted. 
Cinchona  bark  is  packed  for  exportation  in  fresh  ox-hides,  after 
having  been  previously  sewed  up  in  bags  of  coarse  cloth,  which, 
at  La  Paz,  contain  six  arrobas,  five  pounds.  The  bale  or  seron 
complete,  weighing  about  six  arrobas,  fifteen  pounds,  forms  half  a 
mule  load.  The  entire  load,  therefore,  a  little  exceeds  thirteen 
arrobas,  the  transport  of  which  to  the  coast  costs,  on  an  average, 
ten  piastres. — PharmaceuticaUournal,  Sept.,  1854,  from  Voyage 
dans  le  JVord  de  la  Bolivie.    Paris,    1853.    Chap.  xiii. 
*  I  speak  here  of  Cinchona  Calisaya  only,  for  several  other  species  are 
still  very  common. 
