NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CINCHONAS. 
33 
The cinchonas rarely constitute an entire forest, but form 
groups more or less compact, distributed in different parts 
of it. The Peruvians give these the name of manchas. In 
some cases, and most frequently, they grow separately. 
However this may be, it is in discovering them that the skill 
of the cascarillero is principally exerted. If the position 
be favorable, the tops of the trees first attract his notice ; a 
slight movement peculiar to the leaves of certain species, a 
particular color of the foliage, the aspect produced by a great 
mass of inflorescence, enable him to distinguish the cincho- 
nas from a great distance. Under other circumstances he 
confines his inspection to the trunks, of which the external 
layer of the bark, orercuesasit is called, presents remarkable 
characters. Very frequently the dry leaves which he finds 
on the ground are sufficient to indicate to him the vicinity 
of the object of his search ; and if these indications have 
been brought there by the wind, he Knows in what direction 
to look. An Indian, under these circumstances is an inter- 
esting object for observation. Passing in and out through 
the narrow pathways of the forest, glancing through the 
foliage, and appearing to sniff the earth, he seems to walk 
like an animal pursuing its prey, and darts forth when he 
thinks he has discovered the object of his search, nor stops 
until he has arrived at the fo >t of the trunk which he had 
descried from the distance. It is notalways, however, that 
the exertions of the cascarillero are productive of such 
favorable results. Too often he returns to the camp empty 
handed, and without provisions ; and not unfrequently, 
when he has discovered on the side of a mountain indica- 
tions of the tree, he finds himself separated from it by a tor- 
rent or ravine. Entire days may then pass before he can 
attain the object which, during this period, he allows not to 
escape from his sight. 
In order to strip the tree of its bark it is felled with a 
hatchet, being cut a little above the root, and the bark pre- 
viously removed from this part, so that nothing may be lost; 
