ld
produce almost instant death, as its juice is one of the deadliest of
vegetable poisons. Even while it is dripping from the tipiti into the
vessel placed below, great care is always taken lest children or other
animals should drink of it.

There were no beds--such things are hardly to be found in any part of
tropical America--at least not in the low hot countries. To sleep in a
bed in these climates is far from being pleasant. The sleeper would be
at the mercy of a thousand crawling things,--insects and reptiles.
Hammocks, or "redes," as they are called, take the place of bedsteads;
and five hammocks, of different dimensions, could be seen about the new
house. Some were strung up within, others in the porch in front, for, in
building his house, Don Pablo had fashioned it so that the roof
protruded in front, and formed a shaded verandah--a pleasant place 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."

Their home being now sufficiently comfortable, Don Pablo began to turn
his attention to the object for which he had settled on that spot. He
had already examined the cinchona-trees, and saw that they were of the
finest species. They were, in fact, the same which have since become
celebrated as producing the "Cuzconin," and known as _Cascarilla de
Cuzco_ (Cuzco bark).

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

The species, which grew on the sides of the adjacent hills, Don Pablo
recognised as one of the most valuable. It was a nearly-allied species
to the tree of Loxa, which produces the best bark. It was a tall slender
tree--when full grown, rising to the height of eighty feet; but there
were some of every age and size. Its leaves were five inches long and
about half that breadth, of a reddish colour, and with a glistening
surface, which rendered them easily distinguished from the foliage of
the other trees. Now it is a fortunate circumstance that the
Peruvian-bark trees differ from all others in the colour of their
leaves.