306 Dr Tschudi on Coca. 



his mouth. I was constantly beside him, and therefore I had 

 the opportunity of closely observing him. The work for which 

 I engaged him being finished, he accompanied me on a two 

 days' journey of twenty-three leagues, across the level heights. 

 Though on foot, he kept up with the pace of my mule, and 

 halted only for the chacchar. On leaving me, he declared that 

 he would willingly engage himself again for the same amount 

 of work, and that he would go through it without food, if I 

 would but allow him a sufficient supply of coca. The village 

 priest assured me that this man was sixty-two years of age, 

 and that he had never known him to be ill in his life. 



The Indians maintain that coca is the best preventive of 

 that difficulty of respiration felt in the rapid ascents of the 

 Cordillera and the Puna. Of this fact I was fully convinced 

 by my own personal experience. I speak here, not of the 

 mastication of the leaves, but of their decoction, taken as a 

 beverage. When I was in the Puna, at the height of 14,000 

 feet above the level of the sea, I drank always, before going 

 out to hunt, a strong infusion of coca leaves. 1 could then, 

 during the whole day, climb the heights and follow the swift- 

 footed wild animals without experiencing any greater diffi- 

 culty of breathing than I would have felt in similar rapid 

 movements on the coast. Moreover, I did not suifer from the 

 symptoms of cerebral excitement or uneasiness which other 

 travellers have observed. The reason perhaps is, that I only 

 drank this decoction in the cold Puna, where the nervous sys- 

 tem is far less susceptible than in the climate of the forests. 

 However, I always felt a sense of great satiety after taking 

 the coca infusion, and 1 did not feel a desire for my next meal 

 until after the time at which I usually took it. 



By the Peruvian Indians the coca plant is regarded as 

 something sacred and mysterious, and it sustained an import- 

 ant part in the religion of the Incas. In all ceremonies, 

 whether religious or warlike, it was introduced, for producing 

 smoke at the great offerings, or as the sacrifice itself. During 

 divine worship the priests chewed coca leaves; and unless they 

 were supplied with them, it was believed that the favour of the 

 gods could not be propitiated. It was also deemed necessary 



