COCA 101 



discredit. Nearly three hundred years ago the poet 

 Cowley (170a), in his Sex Libri Plantarum, published 

 in London in 1672, not only mentions coca, known to 

 him only through the tales of travelers, but in terms 

 that today need no apology, sets forth that marvelous 

 drug. The passage is so remarkable that we can not 

 resist placing it before our readers, (the translation 

 from the original Latin of Cowley being made by Miss 

 Margaret Stewart) . The poet, describing a feast of the 

 gods, includes among the deities both those of the Old 

 World familiar in mythology, and the less well-known 

 deities of the New World. Venus presides over the 

 feast, and Bacchus offers wine to Omelochilus, a South 

 American deity. Pachamama, (the "skin mother"), is 

 a leading deity of the Incas. The Quitoita, the Vicugni, 

 and the Paci are tribes now obscurely known. The 

 translation is almost strictly literal, but in a few lines 

 the sense requires a somewhat free rendering. Several 

 editions of Cowley's "Book of Plants" are on the 

 shelves of the Lloyd Library. The one from which the 

 translation is made was printed in London, 1678. The 

 passage is as follows: 



EULOGY OF COCA 



From Cowley's Sex Libri Plantarum, 1672 

 (Translation) 



The vine departs; and all the deities of the Old 

 World applaud, and with purpled hands seize the clus- 

 tered grapes. Bacchus, in jesting mood, brings a gen- 

 erous cup, pressed from many grapes, to Omelochilus. 

 "Come, drink, comrade," said he. "If thou dost taste 

 this wine, no other of the gods will be more fit than thou 

 to tempt the crude appetites of the cannibals." 



