| Show PERUVIAN bark efard labor labori i and perils of tile the Bark Gath ebers brors of the andes f complaint has often been made of the bi high 0 gh price at which quinine i is s sold by physicians and apothecaries but when it is known how much toil til fatigue and hardship it lias has cost to secure his invaluable medicine from the south american forests one in need of the drug dru 1 should bo be thankful that it can call be abt obtained elined at any cost the bark 0 gatherers gatherers are called cascar ril leros at tile the commencement of tile dry season about the first or middle of may alay a company of in the service of sonic some inc merchant reliant or firm are sent into tile the uninhabited wilderness ness under a leader cal called led a in mo me to labor in tile the forest until the fall each person buys provisions for his own use for the season and conveys it on mule back to his desti destination natio it requires great endurance and bravery bravery to face the hardships before the ahe party but many of the lie birk bark 0 gatherers are indians and and have been used to this labor from boyhood the changeable climate and danger of fever and running 0 short of food they are also accustomed to the party roam about until a sufficient number of trees are found in the vi vicinity C anity to make it practicable to settle down and establish a camp in a suitable place A small house is built for sleeping purposes and for covering 0 the bar bark k that it may not be exposed to an occasional shower of rain the party are now ten tell or twelve days journey from the starting 0 point and they claim the forests for many miles around no other bark gatherers ather ers beino being allowed in the bici neighborhood for th the season when tho the rude shed or house is completed the majordomo mayordomo major domo divides the cas caril leros and sends out little parties in different directions with sufficient food for a long absence from each eminence the s surrounding forests ire are scanned for a sight 0 of the cin cinchona clion a experience and obber observation have made it possible for the men to distinguish tile tree at a or great cat distance not only front from its greater height than burrou surrounding adin 0 forest trees but from the li light ht green reen smooth loaves leaves with here and there a yellow leaf speaking of the alio bark gatherers in peru a traveler traveler says that standing 0 on one side of a ravine the moil men count the cost of the opposite I 1 side gide or they cli climb in b t to 0 ta ta batops 10 t tops 1 a of the lofties loftiest loft iest trees an and s urve the country around for cinchona 91 f the men are judges of the proper ame ago at which a tree alty may be deprived of its bark and know the best trees for this purpose having 0 selected a tree it is sometimes cut as near tile the ground as possible and the bark taken off at other times the tree is made while standing cutting 0 is usually considered tho the better w way ay that the stump may put forth more leaves and aff again 0 ain grow up while a tree is sure to die after felling incisions are made through the trunk bark up fifteen or twenty inches in length 0 by three or four inches broad and the pieces are removed by a knife or other instrument sometimes the bark is not separated for three or four days after the cutting when taken from the tree tile the pieces lee are placed in some spot exposed to the rays of the sun and are laid in piles one over another to dry while a weight of sonic some kind holds the pile in place the bark naturally inclining in to roll NIi while ile drying the bark from the smaller branches is allowed to curl or become as it dries when dry the loads load the bark upon his own back and picks hii way alon along now on oil dizzy bei heights C lits then through pathless woods or up tip and down the steep mountain sides until tile distant camping campia 0 grounds are reached A may be able to cut two quintals quint als two hundred pounds of bark per lay day which will make about one quintal after drying and being 0 rando made ready for roi market arket the epst bark is taken from the trunk tile second quality donics comes from the larger branches and the least valuable is peeled from the llie smaller branches but different kinds of birk bark usually get somewhat mixed in the packages before the rainy season commences about t the lie last of september or in october tile caulp camp ia broken upland t the whole party start for tho the ten days journey home tile mules carry the lie bark three quintals quint als being gj a lawful in mule ule load in the andes although in descending 0 the steep ca castorr cast crr I 1 slope mules can lawfully carry but one hundred and fifty pounds bounds each caell 1 |
