INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  CINCHONA  TREES  INTO  INDIA.  35 
most  suitable  man  to  take  the  command  of  such  an  undertaking. 
We  do  not,  however,  blame  Mr.  Markham  in  this  matter,  the 
responsibility  of  such  an  appointment  rests  entirely  with  the 
Government  who  commissioned  him.  Moreover,  after  his  ap- 
pointment, Mr.  Markham  applied  himself  for  some  months  before 
starting  to  qualify  himself  botanically  for  the  work  in  which  he 
was  about  to  be  engaged.  With  a  knowledge  of  all  these  facts 
before  us,  we  had  great  hopes  that  the  expedition  would  prove  in 
some  degree  at  least  successful,  notwithstanding  the  admitted 
deficiency  of  Mr.  Markham's  botanical  knowledge  and  skill,  and 
in  this  we  have  not  been  disappointed,  as  will  presently  appear. 
After  a  time,  Mr.  Markham,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Weir,  pro- 
ceeded on  his  journey,  and  returned  from  thence  in  June  last, 
when  he  reported  its  result  to  the  India  Board.  The  following 
notice  of  this  report,  and  extracts  therefrom,  are  derived  from 
the  Grardeners'  Chronicle  of  August  11th,  and  will  supply  our 
readers  with  a  short  summary  of  the  route  taken  by  Messrs. 
Markham  and  Weir,  and  of  some  of  the  difficulties  and  dangers 
they  had  to  contend  with: — 
On  the  12th  of  March  of  the  present  year  Mr.  Markham  left 
Arequipa,  a  town  in  Southern  Peru,  with  Mr.  Weir,  a  gardener, 
and  travelling  inland  arrived  at  the  city  of  Puno,  on  the  banks 
of  Lake  Titicaca,  on  the  27th,  a  very  painful  journey,  over 
snowy  heights  15,500  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  in  the  worst 
season  of  the  year,  the  rigors,  of  which  were  increased  by  the 
debility  brought  on  by  an  illness  from  which  he  had  suffered  at 
Arequipa,  and  by  the  soroehi,  or  violent  headaches  and  sickness, 
occasioned  by  the  great  elevation  of  this  region  above  the  sea. 
The  loftiest  part  of  the  road  is  several  hundred  feet  above  Mont 
Blanc.  This  route  was  taken  with  a  view  to  entering  from  the 
north  the  republic  of  Bolivia,  the  head-quarters  of  that  sort  of  Cin- 
chona called  Calisaya  ;  a  project  which  was  prevented  by  weather 
and  the  unsettled  state  of  the  country.  Moreover,  he  heard  that 
the  government  and  people  were  so  jealous  of  preserving  a  mo- 
nopoly of  the  bark  trade  as  to  render  it  impossible  for  him  to 
make  a  collection  personally.  These  obstacles,  be  it  observed, 
were  no  hindrance  to  either  Weddell  or  Hasskarl.  Foiled  in  his 
attempt  to  get  into  Bolivia,  Mr.  Markham  struck  across  the 
country  to  a  place  called  Sandia,  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the 
