The Forest Exiles: The Perils of a Peruvian Family in the Wilds of the Amazon

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

  THE CINCHONA-TREES.

  In about two weeks from their arrival in the valley, the house, with astable for the horse and mule, was completed, and all the necessaryfurniture as well. Had you entered the establishment about this time,you would have observed many odd articles and implements, most of themquite new. You would have seen boxes woven out of palm-leaves, and bagsmade of the fibrous, cloth-like spathe of the "bussu," filled with thesoft, silky cotton of the bombax, to be afterwards spun and woven forshirts and dresses. You would have seen baskets of various shapes andsizes woven out of the rind of the leaf-stalks of a singular palm called"Iu" (_Astrocaryum_), which has no stem, but only leaves of ten feetlong, growing directly out of the ground. You would have seen chairsmade of split palms and bamboo, and a goodsized table, upon which, atmeal-time, might be noticed a table-cloth, not of diaper, but, whatserved equally well, the broad smooth silken leaves of the plantain.There were cups, too, and plates, and bowls, and dishes, and bottles, ofthe light gourd-shell (_Crescentia cujete_), some of the bottles holdinguseful liquids, and corked with the elastic pith of a palm. Othervessels of a boat-shape might be noticed. There were large woodenvessels pointed at the ends like little canoes. They were nothing morethan the spathes or flower-sheaths of one of the largest of palms, the"_Inaga_" (_Maximiliana regia_). This noble tree rises to the height ofone hundred feet, and carries feathery fronds of more than fifty feet inlength. The spathes are so large that they are used by the Indian womenfor cradles and baskets; and their wood is so hard, that hunters oftencook meat in them, hanging them over the fire when filled with water!Many other singular implements might have been noticed in the new home.One, a cylinder of what appeared to be wood, covered thickly withspinous points, hung against the wall. That was a grater, used for themanioc, or yucca roots; and it was a grater of nature's own making, forit was nothing more than a piece of one of the air roots of the"pashiuba" palm, already described. Another curious object hung nearthis last. It was a sort of conical bag, woven out of palm-fibre, witha loop at the bottom, through which loop a strong pole was passed, thatacted as a lever when the article was in use. This wicker-work bag wasthe "tipiti." Its use was to compress the grated pulp of the maniocroots, so as to separate the juice from it, and thus make "cassava."The roots of the yucca, or manioc plant, grow in bunches like potatoes.Some of them are oblong--the length of a man's arm--and more than twentypounds in weight. When required for use, the bark is scraped off, andthey are grated down. They are then put into the tipiti, alreadymentioned; and the bag is hung up to a strong pin, while the lever ispassed through the loop at the bottom. Its short end goes under a firmnotch, and then some one usually sits upon the long end until the pulpis squeezed sufficiently dry. The bag is so formed that its extension,by the force of the lever, causes its sides to close upon the pulp, andthus press out the juice. The pulp is next dried in an oven, andbecomes the famous "cassava" or "farinha," which, throughout the greaterpart of South America, is the only bread that is used. The juice ofcourse runs through the wickerwork of the _tipiti_ into a vessel below,and there produces a sediment, which is the well-known "tapioca."

  There are two kinds of the yucca or manioc-root,--the _yucca dulce_, and_yucca amarga_--the sweet and bitter. One may be eaten raw withoutdanger. The other, which very closely resembles it, if eaten raw, wouldproduce almost instant death, as its juice is one of the deadliest ofvegetable poisons. Even while it is dripping from the _tipiti_ into thevessel placed below, great care is always taken lest children or otheranimals should drink of it.

  There were no beds--such things are hardly to be found in any part oftropical America--at least not in the low hot countries. To sleep in abed in these climates is far from being pleasant. The sleeper would beat the mercy of a thousand crawling things,--insects and reptiles.Hammocks, or "redes," as they are there called, take the place ofbedsteads; and five hammocks, of different dimensions, could be seenabout the new house. Some were strung up within, others in the porch infront, for, in building his house, Don Pablo had fashioned it so thatthe roof protruded in front, and formed a shaded verandah--a pleasantplace in which to enjoy the evenings. Guapo had made the hammocks,having woven the cords out of the epidermis of the leaf of a noble palm,called "tucum" (_Astrocaryum_).

  Their home being now sufficiently comfortable, Don Pablo began to turnhis attention to the object for which he had settled on that spot. Hehad already examined the cinchona-trees, and saw that they were of thefinest species. They were, in fact, the same which have since becomecelebrated as producing the "Cuzconin," and known as "_Cascarilla deCuzco_" (Cuzco bark).

  Of the Peruvian-bark trees there are many species,--between twenty andthirty. Most of these are true cinchona-trees, but there are also manykinds of the genus _Exostemma_, whose bark is collected as a febrifuge,and passes in commerce under the name of _Peruvian bark_. All these areof different qualities and value. Some are utterly worthless, and, likemany other kinds of "goods," form a sad commentary on the honesty ofcommerce.

  The species, which grew on the sides of the adjacent hills, Don Pablorecognised as one of the most valuable. It was a nearly-allied speciesto the tree of Loxa (_Cinchona condaminea_), which produces the bestbark. It was a tall slender tree--when full grown, rising to the heightof eighty feet; but there were some of every age and size. Its leaveswere five inches long and about half that breadth, of a reddish colour,and with a glistening surface, which rendered them easily distinguishedfrom the foliage of the other trees. Now it is a fortunate circumstancethat the Peruvian-bark trees differ from all others in the colour oftheir leaves. Were this not the case, "bark-hunting" would be a verytroublesome operation. The labour of finding the trees would not berepaid with double the price obtained for the bark. You may bethinking, my young friend, that a "cascarillero," or bark-hunter, hasnothing to do but find a wood of these trees; and then the trouble ofsearching 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 befound in one place; and I may here remark that the same is true of mostof the trees of the great Montana of South America. This is a curiousfact, because it is a different arrangement from that made by nature inthe forests of North America. There a whole country will be coveredwith timber of a single, or at most two or three species; whereas, inSouth America, the forests are composed of an endless variety. Hence ithas been found difficult to establish saw-mills in these forests, as noone timber can be conveniently furnished in sufficient quantity to makeit worth while. Some of the palms, as the great _morichi_, form anexception to this rule. These are found in vast _palmares_, orpalm-woods, extending over large tracts of country, and monopolising thesoil 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 quantityand value. He saw, from a high tree which he had climbed, "_manchas_,"or spots of the glistening reddish leaves, nearly an acre in breadth.This was a fortune in itself. Could he only collect 100,000 pounds ofthis bark, and convey it down stream to the mouth of the Amazon, itwould there yield him the handsome sum of 40,000 or 50,000 dollars! Howlong before he could accomplish this task he had not yet calculated; buthe resolved to set about it at once.

  A large house had been already constructed for storing the bark, and inthe dry hot climate of the high Montana, where they now were, Don Pabloknew it could be dried in the woods, where it was stripped from thetrees.