Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 17.djvu/527

Rh at the coast, where it is closely packed in ceroons of previously moistened cowhides (hair-side out), or in bales of heavy sacking. There it is that most of the adulteration is done. The admixture of inferior barks with higher grades is not so much the result of ignorance as sometimes supposed, for the bark-dealers are generally very expert in determining the different varieties and estimating the values of barks. Yet, strange to say, very few bark-merchants ever become wealthy.

All barks enter the market bearing certain brands; these brands used to gain a reputation according to the quality of bark they represent, but frequent occurrence of sophistication of reputed brands with inferior grades of bark has brought on the result that large buyers do not any more purchase cinchona-barks without first making careful assays, but even with this precaution they are sometimes deceived, on account of the adroit manner in which the barks are mixed.

The points of shipment for Ecuadorian barks are Guayaquil and Esmeraldes; for the barks of northern Peru, Payta; from southern Peru and Bolivia, Arica, Islay, Iquiqui, and Callao. A limited quantity of Bolivian bark is exported by way of the Amazon to Para. The greater portion of the bark produced in the northern and eastern districts of the United States of Colombia reaches the market by way of Carthagena and Baranquilla on the Caribbean coast, but that collected in the state of New Granada is mostly shipped from Buenaventura on the Pacific coast. Venezuela furnishes very little bark, and that is sent from Puerto Cabello.

As regards the prospects for future supplies of cinchona-barks from the native forests of South America, the outlook is exceedingly discouraging; the greatly increased use of cinchona alkaloids during the last few years, with the consequent demand for larger supplies of bark, has caused a very thorough working of the old forests, and energetic seeking for new ones. The discoveries of paying forests are becoming more and more rare every year, and the new forests are found at greater distances from the shipping ports, and are more difficult of access.

The tract of country yielding the cinchona is not so unlimited as some writers would lead us to believe, nor is the supply inexhaustible; it is a fact recognized by natives and dealers, who are well informed about the extent and resources of the cinchona-bearing districts, that if the present ruinous system of destroying the trees is continued, and no effort made to propagate new growths, they will, before many years, be practically exterminated from their native soil.

With the abundance of seeds yielded by the cinchonas, one would naturally expect young plants to spring up in great numbers, but such is not the case; the light-winged seeds mostly fall upon and adhere to the ever-moist foliage, where they quickly germinate and decay; or, if, perchance, they fall to the ground, it is exceedingly difficult to gain