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                          TRAVELS

                            IN

                       PERU AND INDIA.

[Illustration: HINCHONA-PLANTS AT OOTACAMUND,

In August 1881 (from a Photograph). A flowering branch of Chinchona in
the foreground.      FRONTISPIECE. Page 487]




                          TRAVELS

                            IN

                       PERU AND INDIA

        WHILE SUPERINTENDING THE COLLECTION OF CHINCHONA
             PLANTS AND SEEDS IN SOUTH AMERICA, AND
                 THEIR INTRODUCTION INTO INDIA.


             BY CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM, F.S.A., F.R.G.S.,

              CORR. MEM. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHILE;
                   AUTHOR OF 'CUZCO AND LIMA.'

                   WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.


                           LONDON:
                 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

                            1862.

            _The right of Translation is reserved._


    LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET,
                       AND CHARING CROSS.




PREFACE.

[Illustration]

THE introduction of quinine-yielding Chinchona-trees into India, and
the cultivation of the "Peruvian Bark" in our Eastern possessions,
where that inestimable febrifuge is almost a necessary of life, has
for some years engaged the attention of the Indian Government. In 1859
the author of the present work was intrusted, by the Secretary of
State for India in Council, with the duty of superintending all the
necessary arrangements for the collection of Chinchona-plants and seeds
of the species esteemed in commerce, in South America, and for their
introduction into India. This important measure has now been crowned
with complete success, and it is the object of the following pages
to relate the previous history of the Chinchona-plant; to describe
the forests in South America where the most valuable species grow; to
record the labours of those who were engaged in exploring them; and to
give an account of all the proceedings connected with the cultivation
of Chinchona-plants in India.

In the performance of this service it was a part of my duty to explore
the forests of the Peruvian province of Caravaya, which has never yet
been described by any English traveller; and the first part of the work
is occupied by an account of the various species of Chinchona-plants
and their previous history, a narrative of my travels in Peru, and a
record of the labours of the agents whom I employed to collect plants
and seeds of the various species of Chinchonæ in other parts of South
America.

The traveller who ascends to the lofty plateau of the Cordilleras
cannot fail to be deeply interested in the former history and
melancholy fate of the Peruvian Indians; and some account of their
condition under Spanish colonial rule, and of the insurrection of
Tupac Amaru, the last of the Incas, will, I trust, not be unwelcome.
I have devoted three chapters to these subjects, which will form a
short digression on our way to the Chinchona forests. I am indebted
to the late General Miller, and to Dr. Vigil, the learned Director of
the National Library at Lima, for much new and very curious material
throwing light on that period of Spanish colonial history which
includes the great rebellion of the Peruvian Indians in 1780.

The second part of the work contains a narrative of my travels in
India, a description of the sites selected for Chinchona-plantations,
and an account of the progress of the experimental cultivation of those
inestimable trees, from the arrival of the plants and seeds, early in
1861, to the latest dates.

In conducting the operations connected with the collection of
Chinchona-plants and seeds in South America, I obtained the services
of Mr. Spruce, Mr. Pritchett, Mr. Cross, and Mr. Weir; and it affords
me great pleasure to have this opportunity of publicly recording their
perseverance in facing many dangers and hardships, and in doing the
work that was allotted to them so ably, and with such complete success.

To Mr. Richard Spruce, an eminent botanist who has for eight years
been engaged in exploring the basin of the Amazons, from Para to the
peaks of the Quitenian Andes, and from the falls of the Orinoco to the
head-waters of the Huallaga, the largest share of credit, so far as
the South American portion of the enterprise is concerned, undoubtedly
belongs. I have endeavoured to do justice to his untiring energy and
zeal, and to the important service which he has rendered to India.

But the collection of plants and seeds in South America, and their
conveyance to the shores of India, would have been of little use if
they had not been delivered into competent hands on arriving at their
destination. To the scientific and practical knowledge, the unwearied
zeal, and skilful management of Mr. McIvor, the Superintendent of the
Government Gardens at Ootacamund, on the Neilgherry hills, is therefore
due the successful introduction of Chinchona-plants into India. His
care has now been fully rewarded, and the experiment has reached a
point which places it beyond the possibility of ultimate failure.

I am indebted to Sir William Hooker, who has, from the first, taken a
deep interest in this beneficial measure, for many acts of kindness,
and for his readiness to give me valuable advice and assistance; while
he has rendered most essential service in successfully raising a large
number of Chinchona-plants at Kew. To Dr. Weddell my thanks are due
for much information most promptly and kindly supplied; and to Mr.
Howard for the important suggestions and information with which he
has frequently favoured me, and which no scientific man in Europe is
better able to give. It is a fortunate circumstance that his invaluable
and superbly illustrated work on the Chinchona genus should have been
published just at the time when the Chinchonæ are about to be planted
out in India and Ceylon, for from no other source could the cultivators
derive so large an amount of valuable information. Mr. Howard has
likewise done good service by presenting the Indian Government with
a fine healthy plant of _Chinchona Uritusinga_, a species which had
not previously been introduced. I take this opportunity of expressing
my thanks for much assistance from Dr. Seemann, the able Editor of
the 'Bonplandia;' from Mr. Dalzell, the Conservator of Forests in
the Bombay Presidency; from Dr. Forbes Watson, the Reporter on the
vegetable products of India, at the India Office; from Mr. Veitch, of
the Royal Exotic Nursery at Chelsea; and from many kind friends both
in Peru and India. I am also indebted to Mr. Alexander Smith, son of
Mr. John Smith, the Curator of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, for
an interesting note on the principal plants employed by the natives of
India on account of their real or supposed febrifugal virtues, which
will be found in an Appendix.

The botanical name for the plants which yield Peruvian bark was given
by Linnæus, in honour of the Countess of Chinchon, who was one of the
first Europeans cured by this priceless febrifuge. The word has been
generally, but most erroneously, spelt _Cinchona_; and, considering
that such mis-spelling is no mark of respect to the lady whose memory
it is intended to preserve, while it defeats the intention of Linnæus
to do her honour, I have followed the good example of Mr. Howard and
the Spanish botanists in adopting the correct way of spelling the
word--_Chinchona_.[1] The Counts of Chinchon, the hereditary Alcaides
of the Alcazar of Segovia, do not hold so obscure a place in history as
to excuse the continuance of this mis-spelling of their name.

After much anxiety, extending over a period of three years; after all
the hardships, dangers, and toils which a search in virgin tropical
forests entails; and after more than one disappointment, it is a
source of gratification and thankfulness that this great and important
measure, fraught with blessings to the people of India, and with no
less beneficial results to the whole civilized world, should have been
finally attended with complete success, in spite of difficulties of no
ordinary character. How complete this success has been, will be seen
by a perusal of the two last chapters of the present work, and of Mr.
McIvor's very interesting Report in the Appendix; it is sufficient here
to say that it has exceeded our most sanguine expectations.




                             CONTENTS.

[Illustration]

                          TRAVELS IN PERU.

[Illustration]

    PREFACE                                                  PAGE V


                             CHAPTER I.

                     DISCOVERY OF PERUVIAN BARK.

    The Countess of Chinchon--Introduction of the use of bark into
    Europe--M. La Condamine's first description of a
    _chinchona_-tree--J. de Jussieu--Description
    of the chinchona region--The different valuable species--The
    discovery of quinine                                            1


                              CHAPTER II.

    THE VALUABLE SPECIES OF CHINCHONA-TREES--THEIR HISTORY, THEIR
                      DISCOVERERS, AND THEIR FORESTS.

      I. The Loxa region and its _crown barks_                     21

     II. The "_red-bark_" region, on the western <DW72>s of
         Chimborazo                                                26

    III. The New Granada region                                    27

     IV. The Huanuco region in Northern Peru, and its
         "_grey barks_"                                            30

      V. The _Calisaya_ region in Bolivia and Southern Peru        35


                               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                         44


                               CHAPTER IV.

              INTRODUCTION OF CHINCHONA-PLANTS INTO INDIA.

    Preliminary arrangements                                       60


                               CHAPTER V.

    Islay and Arequipa                                             69


                               CHAPTER VI.

    Journey across the Cordillera to Puno                          88


                               CHAPTER VII.

                              LAKE TITICACA.

    The Aymara Indians--Their antiquities--Tiahuanaco--Coati--Sillustani
    --Copacabana                                                  108


                               CHAPTER VIII.

                          THE PERUVIAN INDIANS.

    Their condition under Spanish colonial rule                   117


                               CHAPTER IX.

    Narrative of the insurrection of José Gabriel Tupac Amaru, the last
    of the Incas                                                  134


                               CHAPTER X.

    Diego Tupac Amaru--Fate of the Inca's family--Insurrection of
    Pumacagua                                                     158


                               CHAPTER XI.

    Journey from Puno to Crucero, the capital of Caravaya         180


                               CHAPTER XII.

                        THE PROVINCE OF CARAVAYA.

    A short historical and geographical description               199


                               CHAPTER XIII.

    Caravaya--The valley of Sandia                                216


                               CHAPTER XIV.

    Coca cultivation                                              232

                               CHAPTER XV.

                                CARAVAYA.

    Chinchona forests of Tambopata                                240


                               CHAPTER XVI.

    General remarks on the chinchona-plants of Caravaya           267


                               CHAPTER XVII.

      JOURNEY FROM THE FORESTS OF TAMBOPATA TO THE PORT OF ISLAY.

    Establishment of the plants in Wardian cases                  275


                               CHAPTER XVIII.

              PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF PERU.

    Population--Civil wars--Government--Constitution--General Castilla
    and his ministers--Dr. Vigil--Mariano