Markham and his team, which included the botanist Richard Spruce and his future brother-in-law, the New Zealander Charles Bowen, left England for Peru in December 1859, arriving in Lima late in January 1860. There was danger in their enterprise; Peru and Bolivia were on the verge of war, and Markham's party soon experienced the hostility of Peruvian interests anxious to protect their control over the cinchona trade. This limited his sphere of operations, and prevented him from obtaining specimens of the best quality. Later Markham overcame bureaucratic obstruction to obtain the necessary export licences.