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.