Chap. XIV. THE HARVESTS. 235 



grow up together. In Caravaya and Bolivia the soil in wliich 

 the coca gi-ows is composed of a blackish clay, formed from 

 the decomposition of the schists, which form the principal 

 geological featiu-es of the mountains. On level ground the 

 plants are placed in furrows called uachos, separated by little 

 walls of earth umaehas, at the foot of each of which a row of 

 plants is placed ; but this is a modem innovation, the terrace 

 cultivation being the most ancient. At the end of eighteen 

 months the plants yield then* first harvest, and continue to 

 yield for upwards of forty years. The first harvest is called 

 quita calzon, and the leaves are then picked very carefully, 

 one by one, to avoid distm-bing the roots of the young tender 

 plants. The following harvests are called mitta (" time " or 

 "season"), and take place three times and even four times 

 in the year. The most abundant harvest takes place in 

 March, immediately after the rains ; the worst at the end of 

 Jime, called the mitta de San Juan. The third, called mitta 

 de Santos, is in October or November. With plenty of 

 watering, forty days suffice to cover the plants with leaves 

 afresh. It is necessaiy to weed the ground very carefully, 

 especially while the plants are young, and the harvest is 

 gathered by women and children. 



The green leaves, called matii, are deposited in a piece of 

 cloth which each picker carries, and are then spread out in 

 the drying-yard, called matu-cancha, and carefully dried in 

 the sun. The dried leaf is called coca. The drying-yard is 

 formed of slate-flags, called pizarra ; and, when the leaves 

 are thoroughly diy, they are sewai up in cestos or sacks made 

 of banana-leaves, of twenty pounds each, strengthened by an 

 exterior covering of bayeta or cloth.*^ They are also packed 

 in tambores of fifty pounds each, pressed tightly down. Dr. 



® The cesto of coca sells at 8 dollartj in Sautba. In Huauuco it is 5 dolliut 

 the arroba of 25 lbs. 



