The Portuguese, However,
Informed Me That They Had The Cinchona Bark Growing In Their Country -
That There Was A Little
Of it to be found at Tete -
whole forests of it at Senna and near the delta of Kilimane.
It
Seems quite a providential arrangement that the remedy for fever
should be found in the greatest abundance where it is most needed.
On seeing the leaves, I stated that it was not the `Cinchona longifolia'
from which it is supposed the quinine of commerce is extracted,
but the name and properties of this bark made me imagine
that it was a cinchonaceous tree. I could not get the flower,
but when I went to Senna I tried to bring away a few small living trees
with earth in a box. They, however, all died when we came to Kilimane.
Failing in this mode of testing the point, I submitted
a few leaves and seed-vessels to my friend, Dr. Hooker,
who kindly informs me that they belong "apparently to an apocyneous plant,
very nearly allied to the Malouetia Heudlotii (of Decaisne),
a native of Senegambia." Dr. H. adds, "Various plants of this natural order
are reputed powerful febrifuges, and some of them are said to equal
the cinchona in their effects." It is called in the native tongue Kumbanzo.
The flowers are reported to be white. The pods are in pairs,
a foot or fifteen inches in length, and contain a groove on their inner sides.
The thick soft bark of the root is the part used by the natives;
the Portuguese use that of the tree itself.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 969 of 1070
Words from 277755 to 278022
of 306638
