*74 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1884. 



The leaves are received in wrappers or rugs and 

 carried with eare to sheds protected from rain or 

 damp where they are dried and packed. 



In 1851, the annual produce of Bolivia was reckoned 

 at more than 400,000 cerlos (4,600,000 kilogr.) three- 

 fourths of which came from the province of Yungas. 



From Paul Marcoy's Travels in the region of Titicaca, 

 we borrow the following passage : — " Of all the 

 valleys in the group of Carabaya, Ituata is the one 

 in which coca is cultivated on the largest scale. They 

 were then iu full harvest, men and women at work 

 in the quincunxed plantations of this shrub which 

 is so dear to the native race that a decree of 1825 

 placed it in the shield of the Peruvian arms opposite 

 the Peruvian sheep and the horn of plenty. Meu and 

 women one by one were carrying bundles in which 

 were wrapped the leaves they had gathered. These 

 leaves spread out on large linen covers were exposed 

 to the sun for two or three days, then heaped in 

 sacks one yard square and dispatched to all parts of 

 the territory. The coca harvest is a time of rejoicing 

 for the natives of the valleys just as our wheat 

 harvests or vintages are in Europe, On the last day 

 of ingathering, the two sexes who have shared the 

 labour meet and with dancing and libations show 

 the joy they feel at having no more work to do." 



History. 



Glance over the histories of the conquest of India 

 of Oviedo, Pedro Cieea, de Leon, Zarate, Lopez de 

 Honiara and others, and you will have some idea of 

 the astonishment and wonder which the eight of the 

 "coca" produced iu their minds. These men, ar- 

 rived in an unknown world, are dazzled by the sight 

 of the profusion of gold in the palaces, in temples, 

 and even in simple dwellings ; their eyes sparkle 

 with envy at the sight of so much wealth, which 

 they have come so far to seek and for the conquest 

 of which tbey are about to commit atrocities un- 

 worthy not only of the name of Christian but even 

 of barbarians. 



What is their astonishment to see that this gold, 

 for which they show such eager desire, is almost 

 disdained by the Indiana, who seem to attach more 

 value to a miserable little dried leaf. What then, 

 are the marvellous properties of this leaf, which is 

 used for money, but the use of which is forbidden 

 to the common people, it being reserved for sover- 

 eigns and priests, which is in some measure a sacred 

 seed, Binee it figures in sacrifices, is found in temples 

 and in statues of divinities ? At first they are tempted 

 to regard it as a gross superstition, but facts soon 

 come to enlighten them and to convince them that 

 the Indians are not wrong in attaching so high a 

 value to this apparently insignificant leaf. 



These natives whom they have conquered and of whom 

 they have made slaves — not only do their conquerors 

 despoil them of their wealth and torture them to extract 

 more gold, but they make use of them as beasts of 

 burden, giving them heavy loads ts carry over difficult 

 mountains and obliging them to run before their horses. 

 Well, these unfortunate Indians staud fatigue which 

 ought to kill them : they mike long marches, carry 

 missives, running day and nitiht, deprived of all food, 

 not even fiuding water on those arid rocks. How can 

 they sustain tliese almost superhuman labours, and 

 be always gay, lively and ready, not seeming to give 

 in for a moment? Tbey have in the mouth a pinch 

 of coca leaves which they chew and that suffices to 

 sustain them, to refresh, to rest them and to give 

 them fresh strength. The Indians call the coca plant 

 divine and attribute to it the most marvellous pro- 

 perties. 



Iu Peru, under the empire of the Incas, the coca 

 wSs regarded as a living representation of divinity, 

 and the ileitis iu which it grew were venerated as 

 sanctuaries. The Indians made a talisman of it ; 



through it were obtained the favours of fortune, the 

 triumphs of love, and the cure or alleviation of disease. 

 The coca made the oracles speak and rendered their 

 replies less terrible ; it preserved the hearth from all 

 accident or crime. The Indian could not visit the tomb 

 of his ancestors or call up their spirits without a 

 little coca in his mouth. But all were not worthy of 

 making use of this precious plant ; for a long time 

 it was reserved for the use of the gods and of the 

 Incas, those grand monarchs who were said to be 

 descended from the gods. None might chew the coca 

 but those whose virtues or high deeds had made thein 

 worthy to share it with the sovereigns ; it was the 

 reward of bravery or of any heroic action, and was 

 preferred far before gold or silver. 



Through contact with Europeans, the Indians gradu- 

 ally dropped their superstitions, and, after the conquest 

 of Peru by the Spaniards, coca came into general use 

 and it became an important article of commerce, with- 

 out however losing its marvellous prestige. According to 

 the natives it was coca which gave them patience and 

 strength to endure the severe labours which their 

 new masters imposed upon them. But, like quinine, 

 this plant was to have its enemies : people attacked its 

 usefulness, pretended that the belief of the Indians, 

 who imagined that they found strength in chewing the 

 leaves, was a pure invention of the devil, and the 

 use of it was forbidden as irreligious by the Second 

 Council of Lima. 



Since then, the authority of a great number of 

 learned men has pleaded for the divine plant, and 

 experience has shown that the Iudiaus of the mount- 

 ains, who of all. the natives are those who make 

 most use of the coca, are those who staud the hardest 

 work, and laboureis throughout South America 

 have continued to use the coca. The Indian 

 goes to no work, undertakes no journey unless his 

 chuspa be full of beans, and three or four times a 

 day, he sits down, takes some leaves out, puts them one 

 by one in his mouth with the addition of a little 

 llipta (lime), chews them, and then goes on his way, 

 still sucking the juice of the benericient plant. 



We must not regard the legends attaching -to the 

 history of the coca as so fabulous as many have 

 thought them. Separated from the superstition that 

 surrounds them, they still go to prove the divine 

 virtues of the plant. Thus, the Indians could not 

 visit the tombs of their ancestors without chewing it; 

 iu point of fact, the exhalations from the tombs are 

 unhealthy and poisonous unless counteracted by the 

 tonic properties of the coca. 



Minerals could not be drawn from the mountain 

 unless the miners were chewing the sacred leaf, the 

 fact being that the juice of the coca gave the miner 

 strength to strike vigorously enough to extract the 

 metals. If we take up one by one the fables that the 

 Peruvian has piled up concerning this marvellous plant, 

 we shall see that they really only exaggerate a truth. It 

 is certain that the Indian, without substantial nourish- 

 ment, does very heavy work, and it is coca that supplies 

 the place of what is wanting in his food. The Spaniards, 

 noticing this remarkable fact, recorded it in their 

 reports which were eagerly read in Europe From 

 that time forward, coca lias found a place, not only 

 in all the stories of the New World, but also in all 

 the works on natural history, medicine or pharmacy. 



Nicholas Monabdes, a doctor in Seville in the 16th 

 century, was the first to make known coca in a book, 

 the first edition of which appeared at '-'eville in 1565. 

 "L'Histoire Generale des Plautcs," published at Lyons 

 in 1653, vol. 2, p. 745 gives the French translation of 

 what Monardes said upon coca. 



Joseph Aoosi-a, inhis "Natural History of the Indians, 

 Eastern and Western," says in his summing up, upon 

 coca: — " For my part, to tt 11 the truth, I am convinced 

 that it is not Bimple imagination, but a fact that 



