Dec. I, 18S5.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



391 



COCA AT 



SUPPLY.* 



THE SOURCE OF 



BY DR. SQUIBH. 



Very soon after the effects of cocaine 011 the mucous 

 nicmbraues were cstiblished beyonii reasonable ilonbt, 

 ;uul the scai'city of good coca, from which to make 

 the alkaloid, was realized Dr. F. M. Uuunell, the 

 Surgeon-General of the Navy, took an active intere.st 

 in the subject of the supplies of coca, and the causes 

 of the scarcity, and the interior quality as received 

 in this country. Having written to the medical officers 

 of the Navy on duty along the western coast of 

 South America, he took the subject to the Hon. W. 

 E. Chandler, Secretary of the Navy. Secretary 

 Chandler addressed the State Department on the subject, 

 and about the middle of January the Hon. F. T. 

 Frelinghuysen, Secretary of State, addressed a circular 

 letter to the diplomatic and consular officers of the 

 United States in Peru, Bolivia and Chili, " in regard 

 to the difficulty of procuring coca for the United 

 States of a reliable ([uality, and inquiring where the 

 best varieties of coca are found, and the best mode 

 of preparing it for transportation, and how it can 

 be brought within reach of the American purchaser." 



Medicid Director L. •!. AVilliams, of the Na\'y— 

 himself personally familiar with the western coast of 

 .South America— had some good correspondents there 

 to whom he wrote on the subject ; and finally the 

 writer corresponded with several intelligent gentlemen 

 more or less familiar with coca at its source of supply. 



The writer is very much obliged to Dr. (iunnell 

 not oidy for his own efforts in the matter, and their 

 importance, .and for copies of his correspondence, 

 but also because through him was obtained all inform- 

 ation from the correspondence of the Department of 

 State. The writer is also very much indebted to 

 the Hon. Kichard Gibbs, U. S. Jlinister to Bolivia, 

 for some years resident at La Paz; and to the Hon. 

 S. L. Phelps, v. a. Minister to Peru, who has for 

 some years been located at Lima. Each of these 

 gentlemen favom'ed the writer with private letters 

 on the subject, as did also Consul F. 'W. L. Dauelsberg, 

 of vVrica and MoUeudo. Dr. William H. .Jones, of the Navy, 

 also supplies nmch useful and important information. 



The writer has long had a very intelligent corre- 

 pondent at Para, ]5razil, and knowing th.at the 

 tributaries of the ..\mazon ran through fertile coca 

 districts of both liolivia and Peru, he supposed that 

 a commerce in the article might be started down 

 the Amazon, thus avoiding the transportation across 

 the Andes to the western coast. An opportunity 

 occurred of meeting this correspondent, Mr. "William 

 Brambeer, of Piu-.i, on his way home. He was shown 

 the article, which he had never seen at Par;i, and 

 was instructed in points of identity and quaiitj', and 

 took with him a sample of Bolivian coca of fair 

 (juality ; and in less than three months' time the 

 writer received from him a shipment of coca which 

 came down the Amazon to Para.f 



" From Ephemeris, May. 



t This shipment, however, turned out badly. The 

 leaves were evidently a very good variety of wild 

 Peruvian coca, just what they purported to be, and 

 there was no discoverable admixture of other leaves. 

 But when the bales were opened the leaves were 

 found to be damp and mouldy, aud with neither the 

 odour nor taste of coca. Although put up in three 

 thicknesses of bagging-, and one clumsily applied 

 covering of tarred cloth, they had evidently become 

 (lamp and heatel during transportation. Upon a.ssay 

 these leaves, although looking pratty well, yielded 

 a very simll proportion of alkaloid, and were not 

 worth working. The whole cause of this great 

 sacrifice of an originally good article, was in the very 

 bad way in which they were put ui) for transportation. 

 Had they been put, when quite dry, in metal lined 

 boxes and soldered np, they would have been worth 

 1'30 dollar per pound on their arrival, and even in 

 ordinary times would have brought half that price. 

 Any such price as (i'">c. would have yielded a profit 

 of say 20 per cent to the shipper. It is very much 

 to be hoped that such results will lead to better I 

 packing. I 



From all these sources the following information is 

 compiled; and the information is believed to be more 

 complete, more recent, and perhaps more trustworthy 

 than any hitherto publi.shed. 



The most elaborate and most complete of all the 

 communica'.; .;j on the subject, is the report of U. 

 S. Minister Gi'.'.s, of La Paz, to the Department of 

 S ./-^s. La Paz is the great centre of the coca 

 trade of Bolivia, and the business in it there is very 

 large, the Government deriving a vi'ry large revenue 

 from the ta.x upon the coca. There are many large 

 dealers there, and Mr. Gibbs gives the names of 

 Messrs. V. Farfan & Co., as one of the best and 

 most important, as it is one of the largest, commerical 

 houses of Bolivia (.lealing in coca. Tins house has 

 four large plantations in as many yungas, — or deep 

 narrow valleys in the sierras or mountains. Mr. (libbs 

 states that nmch of his information was obtained from 

 this firm. 



There appear to be two very distinct varieties of 

 coca, the Peruvian aud Bolivian, each eomitry claim- 

 ing each \'ariety as being the best. I'eruvian coca is 

 a smaller, narrower leaf, and so ranch thiimej- and 

 more fragile in texture that it is much more br(tken 

 in gathering, drying aud ' packing. It is of a much 

 brighter green colour when in best condition, and 

 by age and change during transportation it becomes 

 of a duller, lighter, yellowish green, while the 

 Bolivian becomes yellowish brown or hruwn. The 

 Bolivian is the larger, broader, rountler, thicker aud 

 stronger leaf, less broken up, and when in its best 

 condition is of a dull, deep olive-green on the upper 

 side, and much lighter beneath. The characteristic 

 faint lines on the under side of the leaf, which 

 form a narrow ellipse with sharp ends ^lanceolate), 

 the midrib passing through the centre, — are more faint 

 and more frequently undistiuguishable in the Peruvian 

 than the Bolivian \-ariety ; or, rather, the lines aro 

 seen on every leaf of good Bolivian coca, but are 

 not discoverable in a small proportion of the Peruvian 

 leaves, even when unadulterated. The odour and 

 taste of the two varieties are almost identical, but 

 differ much with the quality. 



In both tUe ([uality is uniform throughout each 

 package, and is gooii or bad. not so nmch from the 

 original character of the leaf, as from the damage 

 in curing ;uid transportation. These two varieties, 

 of course, shade olf into each other, as the districts 

 from which (hey come lie nearer to each other, so 

 that it is often difficult or imposibic to tell whether 

 certain parcels are Peruvian or Bolivian. 



Each variety is subdivided into the wild and cultiv- 

 ated leaf. Coca from wild plants is larger anil 

 thinner, and is generally considered inferior, but of 

 its inferiority there is much doubt. It reaches the 

 markets more broken, and less carefully put np, and 

 this may cause a prejudice against it. If in good 

 condition it yields about the same proportion of 

 alkaloid as the cultivated coca ; but as there is un- 

 doubtedly a value to coca which is not measured by 

 the yield of alkaloid, the i)roportiou of alkaloid does not 

 disprove the alleged inferiority. 



The general method of cultivation seems to be 

 common to Peru and Bolivia. The best coca is saiil 

 to be produced on hill sides which aro from 3,00l) to 

 (),0U0 feet above the sea-level, and it is grown upon 

 terraces of various widths on the sides of deep nan ow 

 valleys called ''yungas," The seed is sown during 

 August in beds, or bo.\es filled with earth, and by 

 the following June, when the plants are 8 or 10 inches 

 high, they are Iransplanted on tin; terraces about 

 tliree feet apart, in a soil kept free from shade and 

 from any other growths. By November the first or 

 lower leaves are of the deep olive-green coloiu- which 

 marks maturity. A rich soil is needed, but fertilizers 

 are not .iscd, and, however good the soil, it is said 

 to be rather rapidly exhausted by the plants, so that 

 a succession of fresh plantings is kept up. The shrub 

 grows to the height of from 2 to 6 feet, but the 

 largest plants do no yield the best leaves. Each 

 buth yield.s, as a rule, three crops a year, — or in 

 exceptional localities four crops. The first is culled 



