Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-05-10

ment is then ground very slowly to pre-
vent remelting; after being 'sbolted' is
ready for use. That there is so little pure
chocolate in the market is partly owing to
the great medical value of its OIL which is
expressed in the grinding. The consumer
would better purchase cocoa nibs, if he
can, which are the crushed beans before
they have been ground
Cocoa leaves sre also sent from here, but
the quantity has been greatly diminished
| since DIR. Roller, of Vienna, discovered the
alkaloid cocoaine; whereupon the English
Government at once dispatched commits
sion to transplant the tree in its Indian
colonies, and now India supplies the world
with that murderous drug.
THE COFFEE OF ECUADOR
Is fairly good, though but little is ex-
ported. 1t grows on a tree about eight
feet high, with glossy, dark-green leaves,
flowers resembling orange blossoms, and
yellow, green and purple berries all at the
same time Each tree yields an average
of ten pounds year.
Another staple of Ecuador is c9incona or
Peruvian bark" 1t takes its name from
the Countess of Chincon, who was cured by
I its use of intermittent fever, in Lima,
Peru, about the middle of the seventeenth
century. 1t was then introduced into
Europe. and the knowledge of It's curative
powers has spread throughout the earth
Comparatively little of it grows in Peru,
except near the northern border
That familiar medicine, quinine-an
alkaloid made from Peruvian bark-was
discovered in 1920. The same bark has
been found to contain several other aka
loids, but none as important as quinine.
In some countries it is almost as necessary
a provision as food, and no traveller will
venture into malarious region without it.
In Ecuador there are twenty-five varieties
of trees that produce the bark from which
quinine is made, but many of the most
valuable are now nearly extinct, owing to
the reckless way in which they were
stripped. They flourish not only on the
slopes of the Andes, but equally we'll in
Java, India, Algeria, Mexico, the United
States, and wherever they have been trans
! planted.
CHINCoNA COLLECTORS.
Are now obliged to go far into the forest in
search of trees, and suffer many hard
ships in pursuing the industry. Mr..
Knox, the author, tells of Quito gentle
man, who asserted that he had seen chin
coma tree sixty feet high, six feet in d.
ameter, which yielded 1000 pounds of
green bark, or about 1000 pounds when
dr.. Another tree that he saw gave
$4,000 worth of quinine Such trees are
rare nowadays, but few of them would
make ones fortune, considering the rate
at which quinine is retailed per grain, and
the enormous quantity consumed.
Ecuador furnished an endless variety OF
tropical fruits, especially in the vicinity OF
the Guayas river, which are brought
down to passing steamers on balsds, an odd
sort OF raft, made by lashing half a dozen
balsam logs together and flooring them
with split bamboo. These highly original
crafts are about the most picturesque OBJ
Jects to be seen on the river, and having
been invented by the ancient Peruyians
are precisely the same to-day as those that
met the eyes of Pizarro and his gang
more than $50 years ago. Balsam wood is
as light as cork, and remains long time
in the water without any tendency to alb
sorptiop. The RATS vary in size, the logs
in some being longer and more numerous
than in others. They are the homes of a
considerable Floating population most Of
them having hut on top, whose dried
thatch looks in the distance like
A WANDERING HAYsTAcK.
This forms the sole roof tree and habita
ton of the owner and his family, who
spend their lives contentedly on the water
| literally sharing bed and board with the
household pets, (Which all are addicted
| black pigs, fowls, dogs and monkeys.
When steamer anchors anywhere along
the coast of Ecuador, always, of necessity
away out from shore, it is presently sur.
rounded by these balsas, each loaded with
strange dressed or nearly naked natives Of
swarthy hue, clamoring to sell fruits, mon
keys, melons, parrots or specimens OF
wretched pottery. As mentioned in pre-
vious letter, the lower decks of the steam
ers that ply these waters are open, and
used as sort of general store-house for all
manner of commodities. from cattle to
precious metals. Proceeding on its south
ward way, it gradually becomes packed to
the roof with an odd collection of good
ness knows what in the line of fruits, in
small stacks, each the property of differ
ent individual, who goes all the way to
| Valparaiso and back, a voyage of fifty-four
days, in order to dispose of it to whoever
may come on board to buy at intermediate
ports. Many of these itinerant traders are
women, and they sleep on top of their
stores of oranges, pineapples, bananas, ETC.,
regardless of the scorpions, vipers or other
vermin that may be lurking in the yellow
ing heaps. Every comercsante has a travel.
ing companion in the person of a parrot or
monkey, which sleeps at her side and eats
out of the same dish, until sold On this
| eli of he g.. y, l. l..
monkey can be bought for about 81; but
we intend to defer any investments in that
line of goods until the Amazon country is
reached, where these strange creatures
that mock humanity flourish at their best,
or worst.
THE RIVER FRONT
| Of Guayaquil presents lively scene all
the year around, while the rest of the city
locks, by comparison, like some banquet
hall deserted" British steamers from
Panama and Payta arrive once a week,
and Chilean steamers twice a month,
while Yankee steamboats, run regularly
up and down the river; half dozen sail.
ing vessels, principally French, are always
lying in the harbor, and hundreds of dug
outs, RATS and canoes are constantly glid-
ing to and fro. But the balsas are most
attractive to the stranger, and his curiosity
never flags as to what their varying cargoes
may be. Many contain nothing but
guavas, figs, mangoes, papayas and other
tropical fruits never seen in the North ;
Others are laden with fish, of strange spe-
cies known only to Spanish epicures; Others
bring ice, away down from the distant
peak of Chimborazo, which sells in the
city for 81 per pound, and when flag is
hoisted over a favorite cafe, it announces
that snow has arrived from the mountains
and ice-cream can be had. Other balsas
are loaded with water, in jars or barrels,
brought from point twenty miles up the
river out of reach of the brackish tide.
i Tho crias of Tim half x,al-od I,oat,,.a..