From Arica 1926 quintals, worth £17,334 " Islay 1365 " " 12,383 ---- ------ 3291 29,717 ---- ------ Jan. 1st to Nov. 30th, 1860, Arica $160,260 = £35,000 (about). 1860, Islay, 1077 quintals. CHAPTER III. Rapid destruction of chinchona-trees in South America--Importance of their introduction into other countries--M. Hasskarl's mission--Chinchona plantations in Java. THE collection of bark in the South American forests was conducted from the first with reckless extravagance; no attempt worthy the name has ever been made either with a view to the conservancy or cultivation of the chinchona-trees; and both the complete abandonment of the forests to the mercy of every speculator, as in Peru, Ecuador, and New Granada, and the barbarous meddling legislation of Bolivia, have led to equally destructive results. The bark-collector enters the forest and destroys the first clump of chinchona-trees he finds, without a thought of any measure to preserve the continuance of a supply of bark. Thus, in Apollobamba, where the trees once grew thickly round the village, no full-grown one is now to be found within eight or ten days' journey:[85] and so utterly improvident are the collectors that, in the forests of Cochabamba, they bark the tree without felling, and thus ensure its death; or, if they cut it down, they actually neglect to take off the bark on the side touching the ground, to save themselves the trouble of turning the trunk over.[86] A century ago Condamine[87] raised a warning voice against the destruction that was going on in the forests of Loxa. Ulloa[88] advised the Government to check it by legislation; soon afterwards Humboldt reported that 25,000 chinchona-trees were destroyed every year, and Ruiz[89] protested against the custom of barking the trees, and leaving them to be destroyed by rot. But nothing was ever done in the way of conservancy, either by the Government, or by private speculators whose subsistence depended on a continued supply of bark. Dr. Weddell, alluding to this recklessness as regards _C. Calisaya_, observes that "the forests of Bolivia, rich as they are, cannot long resist the continued attacks to which they have been recently exposed. He who, in Europe, sees these enormous and ever-increasing masses of bark arrive, may perhaps believe that they will continue to do so; but he who sees the chinchona-trees in their native forests, and knows the real truth, is obliged to think otherwise."