On the myrospermum of sonsonate, from which the so-called balsam of Peru, white balsam and balsamito, are obtained / by Jonathan Pereira.

  • Pereira, Jonathan, 1804-1853.
Date:
[1850]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the myrospermum of sonsonate, from which the so-called balsam of Peru, white balsam and balsamito, are obtained / by Jonathan Pereira. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    17/22 (page 15)
    By looking at it you will soon find that it is the identical balsam of commerce, of which we have remitted some large lots in former times, and of which you will get a considerable lot next year. No. 1. A piece of stem and bark, will be remitted shortly. No. 2. The way to extract the balsam I have mentioned, but all I may further learn about it will be reported. Nos. 3 and 4. Branches with fruit and flowers will be remitted. I shall order Saravia to send a few Arobas of seed, &c. &c. from Son- sonate, and another similar parcel I shall send Jose M. Tun for to Ispan- guasate. It strikes me that the tree is just now in fruit. The small parcel of pepitas which I remit now is the same which I bought in 1846. It is the almond without the shell, of which the white balsam is made. It is a scarce article of trade. I had never seen it before, nor does any of it appear in trade, here or in Sonsonate. The balsam tree grows on sundry other places on the Pacific side of Central America; but no notice is taken of it, nor is any balsam produced from it there. Near Chiquimulilla and on the Coast of Suchiltepeques there are trees of it. The first essay of making balsamito you will find in the box with the balsamo : one bottle with balsamito distilled in bain marie; one bottle with balsamito made in the common way by infusion; one bag with the almond goes alone. 2. Extract from Mr. Baily's Work, entitled Central America; describing each of the States of Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica; their Natural Features, Products, Population, and reasonable capacity for Colonization. 8vo, 1850. Saunders, 6, Charing Cross. That part of the coast extending from Acajutla to Libertad, is empha- tically termed the Balsam Coast, because there only is collected the article known in commerce as the Balsam of Peru ; the particular district is intermediate to the two ports, and is not large, as it does not reach either of them within three or four leagues. Lying to the seaward of a low lateral ridge of mountains, the whole tract, excepting a few parts on the borders of the ocean, is so much broken up by spurs and branches thrown ofi from the main eminence, and so thickly covered by forest as to be nearly impassable to a traveller on horseback ; from this cause, it is so rarely visited, that very few residents, either of Sonsonate or Sal- vador, have ever entered it. Within this space are situated some five or six villages, inhabited solely by Indians, who are so jealous of their pos- sessions, that they will not suffer any of a different race to live among them. They cultivate so little ground for maize, frixoles, plantains, and other necessaries for subsistence, besides a very small quantity of cocoa, that they are not unfrequently forced to purchase these articles from adjoining parts. They have their own municipalities and chief men, governing themselves pretty much as they please, being, in fact, almost independent of every other authority. In some of the villages there is a church, but in no one a resident curate, who, when his ministry is deemed indispensable on festivals or other occasions, is attentively conveyed by them to and from Guayacoma or Ateas, to which curacies they nominally are dependent. Strictly speaking, they hold no other intercourse with other towns than what is necessary for carrying on their peculiar traflSc. They support themselves by the produce of the balsam trees and cutting cedar timber, of which they furnish large quantities in plank and scantling to Sonsonate and San Salvador for building purposes and carpentering, with occasionally some pieces of more valuable wood, fit for cabinet work. Their chief wealth is the balsam, of which they take to market from fifteen to twenty thousand lbs. weight annually, yielding from four thousand seven hundred to six thousand three hundred