206 COCA 



fathers, who were fully persuaded that the Coyas or subterranean 

 divinities rendered the mountains impenetrable unless previously 

 propitiated by an offering of coca. Even now the Indians put 

 coca into the mouths of their dead, to insure them a welcome 

 on their passage to another world ; and whenever they find one 

 of their ancestral mummies, they never fail to offer it some of 

 the leaves. 



During the first period after the conquest of Peru, the 

 Spaniards endeavoured to extirpate by all possible means the 

 use of coca, from its being so closely interwoven with the 

 Indian superstitions ; but the proprietors of the mines soon 

 became aware how necessary it was for the successful prosecution 

 of their undertakings ; the planters also found after a time that 

 the Indians would not work without it: private interest pre- 

 vailed, as it always does in the long run, over religious zeal and 

 despotic interdictions, and in the last century we even find a 

 Jesuit, Don Antonio Julian, regretting that the use of coca had 

 not been introduced into Europe instead of tea or coffee. 



When we consider its remarkable properties, it is indeed 

 astonishing that it has so long remained unnoticed. Were it 

 concealed in the interior of Africa, or extremely difficult to 

 procure, this neglect could be more easily accounted for; but 

 hundreds of our vessels annually frequent the harbours of Peru 

 and Bolivia, where it may be obtained in large quantities, and 

 yet, as far as I know, the first hale ever imported into Europe 

 has but just arrived in Hamburg. 



For many years Coffein, Thein, Theobromin — the vegetable 

 alkaloids to which coffee, tea, and cacao are indebted for their 

 stimulating properties — have been known to chemists, while the 

 analysis of coca, which might naturally be expected to contain 

 a no less remarkable substance, has only within the last year 

 been attempted by Professor Wohler, the distinguished chemist 

 of Gottingen, to whom we are at length indebted for the dis- 

 covery of Cocain. 



