Salvador of the Twentieth Century

by Percy F. Martin

Beans—known here, as in all Latin-American countries, as frijoles—form a large proportion of the humbler people's daily diet. They are large, brown, and flat in appearance, very nourishing, and very palatable when properly cooked. They are grown all over the Republic, and seem to flourish even in poor-quality soil. Indian corn, or maize, wheat, potatoes, sweet-potatoes, yams, and other vegetables in great variety, flourish here, and one is reminded of a famous cultivator's exordium upon the merits of Jamaica: "You have," said he, "but to tickle the ground with a hoe, and it at once smiles a yam."

Except in Brazil, which probably stands unrivalled among the South American States as a precious-wood-yielding country, I know of no State possessing finer timber forests than Salvador. I have ridden mile upon mile through magnificent timber-tree lands—the cedar, the mahogany, the ebony, the granadilla, and many other valuable cabinet woods; but upon inquiry as to what is being done with all this precious material provided by a bountiful Nature, I was informed that it is rarely marketed, although it is cut occasionally for local building purposes. Many of the larger private houses and public buildings in San Salvador are constructed of native woods, and one is struck with the beauty of their grain and their extreme hardness, while they will mostly take on a high polish. In the lowlands there is an extremely large variety of dye woods to be met with; but here, again, the great forests are left almost untouched, many of them being as trackless as the day that they came into being. The only tree among these latter of which use is made is the mora, or fustic of commerce. The pine-forests are also just beginning to be exploited, and one or two successful lumber enterprises have been started. The Salvadorean forest pine is fully equal in durability, in quality, and in appearance, to the Southern States ceiba and other pine-woods.

The pride of place in the forestry of the Republic belongs to the beautiful and valuable balsam-tree—the Myrospermum Salvatoriensis—yielding what is known to the Materia Medica as "balsam of Peru." The Indian appellation for it is hoitzilixitl. Why is it called "balsam of Peru" if it is the "balsam of Salvador"? I am told, because the precious gum was exported as an article of commerce to Peru from Salvador in the early days of the Spanish Dominion, and thence found its way to Europe. As a matter of fact, it is to be found growing in no country of the world but Salvador, and there in only a few parts of it. "La Costa del Bálsamo" is to be seen marked upon any map of Central America, lying to the seaward of the great volcanic range of mountains; and here it is that the trees are met with, standing together in so close a mass that the daylight seldom enters, and sunlight never. The whole district is inhabited by Indians, who have come to regard the place as their own undisputed territory. They live entirely upon the product of the balsam-tree, hewing down huge planks of this and other woods, which they market to great advantage. The balsam is their main source of wealth, however; and although to-day the annual product falls short of what was realized, say, half a century ago, it still figures very largely in the annual exports of the country. Strangely enough, the tree cannot be cultivated in any other part of Salvador, although the climatic conditions, the soil, and the physical characteristics, may be found suitable. Similar experiences are found in Jamaica, where the pimento-tree is to be met with in one particular locality only, and nowhere else, even careful planting proving quite useless to alter or improve upon the conditions which have been dictated by Nature.

A Street in Sonsonate (Calle de Mercado).

Type of "Quinta" or country house in Santa Tecla (New San Salvador).

The Indian gatherers obtain the balsam from the tree by scraping the skin of the bark to the depth of one-tenth part of an inch, using for the purpose a sharp native knife, or machete. This scraping is done in small patches, extending to 12 or 15 inches square, the incisions being made both across and along the trunk and the largest branches of the tree. Immediately after the operation of scratching is completed, the portions scraped are heated with burning torches, which are made out of the dried branches of a tree known locally as chimaliote; and after burning the surfaces are covered over with pieces of old cotton cloth, under which they are left for a time. By punching the edges of the cloths pressed against the tree with the point of the machete, they are made to adhere. In this condition they are again left for a space of twenty-four hours, and even as long as forty-eight hours (especially in the month of January), when the rags are gathered and submitted to a strong and hot decoction in big iron pots. While still hot the rags are put under a great pressure in a primitive kind of machine, which is made by the Indians themselves, and composed of a combination of wooden levers and strong ropes, worked entirely by hand. The balsam juice then oozes out, and drips slowly into a receptacle, where it is allowed to cool. It is then in the stage known as "raw balsam." Afterwards it has to be refined, which means boiling it again and draining off all impurities, when it is packed in iron cans and sent away to market.

There is another method, which was explained to me, for extracting the balsam—namely, by entirely barking the trees and heavy branches, a process which, of course, kills the tree outright, or at least renders it valueless for a good many years. The bark is ground down to a coarse kind of powder; it is then boiled, the juice or gum floating to the top, and is thus collected. But this process, although speedy, really destroys the full value of the gum, which only realizes a low price when treated in this manner. The Government forbids this method to be adopted, as a matter of fact; but the Indians, on the "get rich quick" principle, practise it all the same. The balsam, as seen in the market, looks like a thick, fatty, viscid resin, of a deep brown or black colour, and emitting a delicious odour.

The analysis is—Cynamic acid, 46; resin, 32; benzylic alcohol, 20, per cent. Balsam is used in making perfumery and soaps, and as an unguent; while for asthma and other pectoral complaints its odour is considered very beneficial.