88 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



Mr. John Thomas Lloyd, an explorer in the Colom- 

 bian Andes, who traveled in company with the Mom- 

 breros (coca users), records of them, 1912: 



"On this trip the dozen Indian porters who carried 

 our cargoes all consumed coca unceasingly while on 

 the march. After eating a simple breakfast of ground 

 corn porridge ('mazamora'), they would start with 

 their heavy packs, weighing from seventy-five to more 

 than a hundred pounds, strapped to their backs. All 

 day long they traveled at a rapid gait, over steep moun- 

 tain spurs and across mucky swamps at an altitude 

 that, to us, without any load whatever, was most ex- 

 hausting. On these trips the Indians neither rested 

 anywhere nor ate at noon, but incessantly sucked their 

 wads of coca throughout the entire day. At night 

 they ate a heavy meal of either 'mazamora' or rice, 

 sometimes with a little 'panela' (brown sugar) dis- 

 solved in hot water. Meat they seldom, if ever, tasted. 

 Then they lay down on the cold, bare ground in a half- 

 open shed, with little cover, awakening at daybreak 

 to eat their breakfast and start again on a long day's 

 journey over the rugged mountains. 



"When we tried to buy coca outfits from our porters, 

 at first we met with absolute failure, but finally per- 

 suaded two of them to part with their treasures in 

 exchange for tin tobacco boxes and a small sum of 

 money. We also tried to buy their supply of coca 

 leaves and lime, but these they positively refused to 

 sell, insisting that without the coca they could not 

 carry their packs to the journey's end. 



''These Indians we found very pleasant, always 

 cheerful, happy, and good natured, in spite of the fact 



