12. Is the pure red China bark actually obtained from the C. ovata, var. erythroderma of Weddell, as would appear from an article by Howard in "the Pharmaceutical Journal for October, 1856?" The leaves of that variety have the most resemblance to those of the three young trees brought over, which we now possess in Java, and which I have spoken of as Cinchona cordifolia.
13. The experiments in acclimatization of the above-named species in Java, especially in Western Java, which, it must be admitted, has a very much more moist, rainy climate than Peru, and still more so than Southern Bolivia, where the Calisaya chiefly grows, have already undergone several phases, and it has successfully struggled with numerous obstacles, some natural, others the result of failures of the earliest cultivators. The species named C. Condaminea, var. lucumæfolia, has shown itself more susceptible of being acclimatized than the C. Calisaya, and at present (May, 1858) promises to produce from 50,000 to 70,000 ripe fruit, within a few weeks, all fit for reproduction. Apparently the climate and other physical conditions of the locality in Java, where the cultivation has been carried on, have corresponded with those natural conditions which enable this plant to grow so abundantly in its native soil of Peru."
[151] The name dates from the time when what is now Bolivia (in the forest of which the China tree chiefly grows) formed an integral portion of Peru, and was in fact called Upper Peru, whereas from that which is now called Peru, hardly any bark is exported, while that found in New Granada and Ecuador, whence it is exported to Spain under the name of Pitaya, is a species of very inferior quality for medicinal purposes.
[152] The name, Countess' powder, which was given to the drug owing to its use by a certain Countess Chinchon (wife of a Peruvian viceroy), was afterwards altered to Cardinal's or Jesuit's powder, in consequence of the Procurator-general of the order of Jesus, Cardinal de Lugo, having, during his passage through France, everywhere made known the virtues of the drug, and recommended it to the particular attention of Cardinal Mazarin, as the brethren of the order had begun to drive quite a lucrative trade in South American China bark, which they had carried on by their missionaries. V. Humboldt's "Ansichten der Natur," third edition, 1849, vol. ii. p. 372.
[153] See Humboldt's Ansichten der Natur. Third edition. 1849. Vol. ii. p. 319.
[154] Señor Emilio Escobar of Lima sent me a small flask of a hitherto little-known vegetable stuff, which gives very much the same dye as the cochineal insect, and is found in great abundance throughout Peru. I have added this bottle of dye, which at all events merits more minute investigation, to the other collections of the Novara Expedition.
[155] In 1859, there were forwarded, according to official documents:
| From Aspinwall to Panama. | From Panama to Aspinwall. | Totals. | ||
| Passengers | 23,206 | 16,567 | 39,773 | |
| Bullion | 3,146,983 | 57,097,061 | 60,244,044 | |
| Mail parcels of the U.S. | pounds | 643,752 | 184,395 | 828,147 |
| Mail parcels of England | " | 47,060 | 8,824 | 55,884 |
| Merchandise | tons | 17,278 | 3,802 | 21,080 |
| Coal. | " | 7,618 | - | 7,618 |
| Personal baggage | pounds | 67,698 | 62,581 | 130,279 |
[156] The cost of keeping in repair is not less than £100,000 per annum, owing to the destroying energies of the atmosphere and of insects, as also of the rapid growth of vegetation, to keep which under employs not less than 3000 labourers.
[157] The statistics of mortality among the various races on the Isthmus for the year 1858 give the following results.