142 
ON THE MYROSPERMUM OF SONSONATE. 
two jars of balsamo bianco of a gentleman from Sonsonate, as a 
sample of balsamo de Tolu ; these I send you as well as the ker- 
nels of which it is made. By the mode they manufacture it, it 
can never be made an article of trade ; and unless you send us 
an apparatus and instruction how to extract it, which I think 
might be done in the way that heavy oils are extracted, such as 
oil of cloves, &c, provided it is worth while, no use can be made 
of it. 
" The Esencia tinturada del balsamo Virgen, is what we call 
here Balsamito. Finding, by experience, that it would be a fine 
drug, curing old wounds, perfuming, washing, &c, &c, I got from 
Don Jose Soto the way to prepare it and the sample which I re- 
mit to you by the Honduras and Pacific side is pretty large, and 
of fine quality.* 
c * As I have told you already, this balsamito is made by infus- 
ing the nut of the balsam tree, macerating the shell and kernel in 
brandyf of thirty degrees. Its inventor was Jose de Leon, Esq., 
as you will see by the printed paper enclosed. However, the shell 
of the nut, which is like that of an almond, contains in its conca- 
vities a most aromatic oil, and more so than that of the kernel 
itself. Brandy can never extract all this oil. Perhaps Dr. Pereira 
would be kind enough to put you in the way to learn the mode 
how to extract the balsam, after he has seen the nut, &c." 
2. Extract from Mr. Baity s Work, entitled " Central America; 
describing each of the Stales of Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, 
Nicaragua, and Costa Rica; their Natural Features, Products, 
Population, and reasonable capacity for Colonization." 8vo, 1850 
Saunders, 6, Charing Cross. 
" That part of the coast extending from Acajutlato Libertad, is 
emphatically termed the " Balsam Coast," because there only is 
collected the article known in commerce as the Balsam of Peru ; 
the particular district is intermediate to the two ports, and is not 
large, as it does not reach either of them within three or four 
leagues. Lying to the seaward of a low lateral ridge of mountains, 
*It is now in the West India Docks. — J. P. 
f The liquid here and in other places called "brandy," is in fact " rum," 
being obtained by fermentation from sugar. — J. P. 
