ark is collected as a febrifuge,
and passes in commerce under the name of _Peruvian bark_. All these are
of different qualities and value. Some are utterly worthless, and, like
many other kinds of "goods," form a sad commentary on the honesty of
commerce.

The species, which grew on the sides of the adjacent hills, Don Pablo
recognised as one of the most valuable. It was a nearly-allied species
to the tree of Loxa (_Cinchona condaminea_), which produces the best
bark. It was a tall slender tree--when full grown, rising to the height
of eighty feet; but there were some of every age and size. Its leaves
were five inches long and about half that breadth, of a reddish colour,
and with a glistening surface, which rendered them easily distinguished
from the foliage of the other trees. Now it is a fortunate circumstance
that the Peruvian-bark trees differ from all others in the colour of
their leaves. Were this not the case, "bark-hunting" would be a very
troublesome operation. The labour of finding the trees would not be
repaid with double the price obtained for the bark. You may be
thinking, my young friend, that a "cascarillero," or bark-hunter, has
nothing to do but find a wood of these trees; and then the trouble of
searching is over, and nothing remains but to go to work and fell them.
So it would be, did the cinchona-trees grow together in large numbers,
but they do not. Only a few--sometimes only a single tree--will be
found in one place; and I may here remark that the same is true of most
of the trees of the great Montana of South America. This is a curious
fact, because it is a different arrangement from that made by nature in
the forests of North America. There a whole country will be covered
with timber of a single, or at most two or three species; whereas, in
South America, the forests are composed of an endless variety. Hence it
has been found difficult to establish saw-mills in these forests, as no
one timber can be conveniently furnished in sufficient quantity to make
it worth while. Some of the palms, as the great _morichi_, form an
exception to this rule. These are found in vast _palmares_, or
palm-woods, extending over large tracts of country, and monopolising the
soil to themselves.

Don Pablo, having spent the whole of a day in examining the cinchonas,
returned home quite satisfied with them, both as regarded their quantity
and value. He saw, from a high tree which he had climbed, "_mancha