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The  Home  oj  the  Cinchono.s. 
(■  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\     March.  ISW. 
the  tangled  mass  of  roots  and  rootlets  that  for  a  depth  of  ten  or  fifteen  feet  al- 
most constitute  the  soil,  rather  than  ramify  through  it.  This  supply  allows 
the  water  to  trickle  slowly  along  under  the  roots  of  the  cinchona. 
Just  here  we  meet  with  a  paradox.  While  the  water  supply  must  be  con- 
stant, yet  if  it  be  unchanged  disaster  will  certainly  result.  If  the  cinchona 
trees  be  planted  upon  a  level  tract  where  there  is  not  sufficient  drainage  to  im- 
mediately carry  off  the  falling  showers,  they  soon  begin  to  droop  and  die.  The 
temperature  iti  this  region  seldom  falls  below  70  degrees,  and  is  usually  below 
90  degrees.  Under  such  conditions  as  these,  the  character  of  the  vegetation 
may  be  readily  inferred.  Its  luxuriance  is  nowhere  exceeded.  There  are 
larger  trees  in  Australia,  but  they  stand  independently  of  each  other.  The  for- 
ests of  Brazil  are  heavier,  but  there  is  not  such  a  profusion  of  tender  plants, 
parasites  and  gorgeous  flowers.  Here,  however  steep  and  high  may  be  the 
cliff,  there  are  sufficient  large  trees  shooting  upwai'ds  from  its  foot  or  supported 
upon  its  ledges,  to  form  a  frame  for  the  dense  net-work  of  vines  that  entirely 
conceal  it  from  our  view.  Over  the  smaller  mountain  streams  arch  giant 
branches,  concealing  them  from  our  downward  view,  and  into  the  water  droop 
gay  festoons  of  flowering  vines.  Thus  we  gaze  as  it  were  upon  a  vast,  irregular 
sea  of  verdure,  and  forget  all  the  roughness  of  the  surface  below.  Could  these 
mountains  be  suddenly  stripped  of  their  verdant  cloak  of  charity  and  exposed 
in  all  their  roughness  to  our  view,  the  scene  of  desolation  would  be  appalling 
and  pitiable,  for  nowhere  does  nature  present  such  abrupt  descents  as  here. 
Before  is  a  mountain  side  glittering  with  shining  palms,  whose  tops  alone 
are  seen,  anci  at  its  centre  a  slight  depression,  not  noticeable  but  for  a  mountain 
stream  that  leap-  out  from  the  mid-t  of  its  foliage  and  falls,  a  sheet  of  silver, 
among  the  Ljwer  tree  tops,  only  to  re-appear  a  hundred  feet  below. 
We  arc  traveling  upon  a  little  ledge,  which  runs  for  miles  along  the  sides  of 
an  otherwise  :  four  thousand  feet  in  height.   Upon  the  left 
the  road  i-V  :    whose  dehcately  divided  fronds,  a  dozen  feet 
in  length,  binish  in  oui'  face.-,  alternating  with  graceful  bamboos  which  arch 
over  our  pathway. 
Upon  our  right  rises  the  cliff,  but  all  hidden  by  a  mass  of  our  hot-house 
favorites — begonias,  fuchsias,  amaryllas,  calceolarias,  ferns,  mosses  and  orchids, 
a  new  species  at  every  tm-n  of  the  road.  Beautiful  little  grottoes  are  formed 
where  the  cascades  come  down,  one  of  which  would  make  the  fortune  of  any 
florist  who  could  reproduce  it  here.  Except  where  the  pathway  is  kept  open 
by  constant  travel,  and  the  lopping  off  of  the  encroaching  vegetation,  the  earth 
itself  is  never  seen.  Xo  one  travels  through  the  Mordi.^  as  the  tangled  forest 
is  called,  without  a  macJid-;.  or  enoirmous  knife  iu  his  hand  with  which  to  cut 
away  the  undergrowth  at  every  stej:',  and  allow  him  to  examine  well  the 
ground  upon  which  he  is  to  tread,  for  a  single  careless  step  may  precipitate  him 
to  his  death. 
Such  is  the  home  of  the  cinchona.  A  full  history  of  its  search,  collection, 
shipment  and  culture  would  be  virtually  a  history  of  the  most  enchanting 
regions  in  South  America.  But  we  can  merely  touch  upon  it.  At  first  the 
collectors  plied  their  trade  in  the  vicinity  of  their  own  home.  But  soon  the 
accessible  supply  became  exhausted  and  the  collector  was  obliged  to  make 
longer  journeys  into  the  forests,  remaining  weary  days  upon  the  journey,  and 
bearing  a  thousand  trials,  privations  and  dangers.    His  scanty  supply  of  food 
