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CHAPTER XXI
THE CINCHONA FORESTS OF EL LIMON, ON THE
WESTERN SLOPE OF CHIMBORAZO
(i860)
[Tins year was wholly occupied
in the arduous
work of obtaining for the Indian Government seeds
and young plants of the best of the medicinal barks,
produced by the Cinchona succirubra, which was
becoming exceedingly scarce owing
to the reckless
destruction of the trees producing it. The bulk of
the present chapter is occupied with a reprint of
the more interesting portions of the very full
report of his labours made by Spruce. This is of
much general and historical as well as of botanical
interest, and as it can now only be procured in a
very cumbrous form in a large and costly " book
Blue
"
comprising the whole official record of the
introduction of the various Bark trees into India,
its inclusion in any account of Spruce's botanical
work is imperative.
I give first the " List of Botanical Excursions "
for the year, which summarise the whole story ;
and also some short extracts from the few letters
he was able to write, which supply some more
personal and descriptive features to the narrative.]
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