expected from the rising and future generations, now that there are such universities as that of Santiago de Chile, and such men as Bello to direct and foster them! Who can be blind to the genius and great natural abilities of the Peruvian youth, now shooting forth, notwithstanding the great disadvantages under which Peru at present labours, with regard to the state of her colleges? With her immense resources, a good government, and tranquillity, what may not be expected! But every nation has its beginning, an inevitable and perhaps necessarily rough ordeal to undergo, and South America must not expect to make a leap that no other country has been able to do."

CHAPTER XIX.

Mr. Spruce's expedition to procure plants and seeds of the "red bark" or C. succirubra Mr. Pritchett in the Huanuco region, and the 'grey barks"- Mr. Cross's proceedings at Loxa, and collection of seeds of C. Condaminea.

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IN a previous chapter I have given an account of the arrangements which I made for procuring the various species of Chinchona in districts other than that of the Calisaya, and it now remains for me to record the labours of those whom I employed on this service, and the successful results with which those labours were rewarded. And first, both in importance and success, stands the expedition of Mr. Spruce, to collect the seeds and plants of the "red-bark" tree or C. succirubra, of whose services it would be impossible to speak too highly. I may mention, at starting, that he received my first letter, requesting him to undertake the work, on July 2nd, 1859, and such was his zeal that on the 22nd of the same month he was on his way to the chinchona forests, at his own expense, to ascertain the best locality for collecting the plants and seeds.

The species of chinchona, known as the "red-bark" tree, yields a larger per-centage of febrifugal alkaloid than any other, and must therefore be considered as the most important. Its native forests are on the western slopes of the famous mountain of Chimborazo, in the Republic of Ecuador, and for a great many years it has not been found beyond 2° 36' S. lat., but Mr. Spruce thinks it probable that in former times the tree grew all along the roots of the Andes of Cuenca and Loxa to the limits of the Peruvian desert

1 Mr. Howard has recently obtained 8.5 per cent. of alkaloids from a spocimen of red bark.

in 5° S. To the north it scarcely passes the latitude of 1° S.; and these precious trees are thus confined within a very narrow latitudinal zone. Within the ascertained limits of the true "red-bark" tree, it exists in all the valleys of the Andes which debouch on the plain of Guayaquil ; but great havoc has been made amongst the trees of late. years by the bark-collectors. In the valleys of Alausi,

Pallatanga, and Chillanes (see map) all the large trees have already been cut down. At the bases of the ridges of Angas and San Antonio, the localities originally mentioned by Pavon, and where "red-bark" trees once grew in abundance, the same destructive system has been adopted; and now the "red-bark" grounds are confined to the ravine of the river Chasuan, and its tributaries, which rise on the northern slopes of Chimborazo, and fall into the river of Guayaquil.

On the 22nd of July 1859 Mr. Spruce set out from the pleasant town of Ambato, in the Quitenian Andes, where he was then residing, and, passing through Alausi, arrived at the banks of the river Chanchan, and established himself at a place called Lucmas, which is conveniently near the "redbark" chinchona forests. Lucmas is a sugar-cane farm, between 5000 and 6000 feet above the sea; there are foresttrees in the valleys and on the hills, while the steep slopes are often covered with scrub and grass. From Lucmas Mr. Spruce went to the forests on the banks of the river Pumachaca, which rises in the mountain of Asuay, and falls into the Chanchan, at an elevation of 4000 feet. One circumstance, among many, will give an idea of the difficulties which he had to encounter. On reaching the Pumachaca he found that the ford had been destroyed by the falling of a

There is no ascertained law by which many of the species of the chinchona genus are thus limited to narrow zones as regards latitude. Mr. Spruce mentions that on the lower regions of

the Andes of Pasto and Popayan, in New Granada, there are the conditions of climate and altitude requisite for the growth of C. succirubra, but it has not been found there.