Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

ON THE PACIFIC COAST 323
and when I afterwards fell in with the trees pro-
ducing- them, there was either no gum to be had
or merely small fragments, sufficient for identifica-
tion with larger masses, but not worth sending as
specimens to England. The collection of balsams,
gums, resins, etc., is a task requiring an Indian's
patience. Mostly they must be gathered drop by
drop, or incisions must be made and the trees visited
after the lapse of months to get the lumps of coagu-
lated juice. I was unfortunate in some things I
tried to collect on a large scale. For instance, I
took with me down the Rio Negro a demijohn of
the Sassafras of that river, and several demijohns
of a beautifully white and transparent Oil of Copaiba,
procured on the Siapa, intending to send them to
England and ascertain their commercial value ;
but the person who took them down to Para not
only received the freight beforehand, but sold the
articles there on his own account instead of deliveringO
them to my correspondent.
[XVith this letter Spruce sent dried specimens of
a gum-producing tree which grew about a mile and
a half from the village of Chanduy, and which after
"
several attempts he succeeded in reaching
though
I had to lie down many times by the way." He
then concludes thus :]
This is, I think, all your correspondent has to
send you this time. You will see he is now good
for little else besides talking and writing even the
latter is painful to him and can be done only reclining
in the hammock but if ; you will have <
patk-n<
with him, he will still try to obtain lor you any
information within his reach. Very faithfully yours,
Rl HARD I SPRU< .