than
many of the tambos we had stopped at, with thick walls and roof to
protect the bark from the effects of the weather. It was already about
half full of bundles of this valuable commodity. Each bundle was
tightly done up, and weighed as much as a man could carry up the steep
mountain's side.

We as usual set to work to form a separate chamber for Ellen and her
attendant: this we did with bundles of the bark, leaving a door and
window for ventilation. Ellen thanked us for our trouble, saying that
she had not had so comfortable a room since the commencement of our
journey. John, Arthur, and I slung our hammocks in the building, while
the rest of the party were accommodated in the huts of the
bark-gatherers. A rough table was soon formed within the large shed,
and benches were brought in, and a substantial repast made ready. The
chief dishes were the usual potato-soup and some roast meat. We could
not at first make out whether it was venison or mutton, but found on
inquiry that it was the flesh of a vicuna, which had been shot by the
sportsman of the party in the morning. It is an animal resembling the
llama, the well-known beast of burden of the ancient Peruvians. Don
Jose and his friend sat down to table with us, and Domingos waited.

"But of what use is this bark!" asked Ellen, looking up at the huge
bundles piled up on either side. "Is it for tanning?"

"Oh no," answered John. "This is the celebrated Peruvian bark, to which
the name of chinchona has been given. It was bestowed on it in
consequence of the wife of the Viceroy of Peru, the Countess of
Chinchona, having been cured of a tertian ague in the year 1638. The
count and his wife, on returning to Spain, took with them a quantity of
the healing bark; and they were thus the first persons to introduce this
valuable medicine into Europe, where it was for some time known as the
countess's bark or powder, and was named by the celebrated naturalist
Linnaeus chinchona, in memory of the great service the countess had
rendered to the human race. The Jesuits were great promoters also of
the introduction of the bark into Europe. Some Jesuit missionaries in
1670 sent parcels of the powder or bark to Rome, whence it was
distributed throughout Europe by the Cardinal de Lugo, and used for the
cure of agues with great success. Hence, also, it was often called
Jesuit's bark, and cardinal's bark."

"Yes, I have heard of that," observed Don Jose, laughing; "an