more, coca is almost never planted near the maloca and in the 
proximity of cassava and other food plants; it is cultivated in 
small plots, usually quite removed from the maloca. 
IV. 
Preparation of coca for use in the Amazon regions is very 
different from that commonly practiced through the South 
American highlands. The primary reason stems from the lack of 
easily available sources of lime in most parts of the Amazon. 
The leaves are collected with great care by men from the coca- 
plantings and brought back daily to the maloca. Here they are 
toasted on a flat clay cassava-oven. This work, done by either a 
man or woman, consists of gently and constantly turning the 
leaves over, until all are dry and crisp. They are then put into a 
large mortar — a hollowed out log of some hard wood, 
frequently a species of Tabebuia or Swietenia Mahogani, but 
occasionally of the lower part of the trunk of the chontaduro or 
pupunha palm, Guilielma speciosa. Pounding is done with a 
pestle of hardwood, until the leaves are reduced to a fine 
powder. The mortar measures four or five feet in height; it must 
be long in order to impede the escape of the impalpable coca 
powder during the operation. The work of pulverization is done 
only by men who carry it out rigorously in a standing position. 
It may occupy up to an hour of pounding. The dull, rhythmic 
thumping which begins when darkness falls and may continue 
until nine o’clock is one of the hauntingly agreeable sounds that 
remains uppermost in my memory of many years of residence in 
the great malocas or round houses of the Indians of the 
northwest Amazon. 
Whilst one man is pulverizing the leaves, another places a pile 
of dried leaves — usually of yarumo or imbauba — on the floor 
in the middle of.the maloca. He sets fire to these leaves, reducing 
them to ashes which are gently swept, when cool, into a small 
pile. The leaves of Cecropia sciadophylla are preferred. This tall 
tree is frequently left standing when the forest is felled for 
agriculture, since it is highly valued as the very best source of 
ashes for coca. Other species of Cecropia — C. peltata and C. 
palmata — are occasionally used, although they are much less 
49 
