40 ERTTHROXYLON COCA 



Properties and Uses. Coca has been used by the natives of 

 Peru and some other parts of South America from the earliest 

 periods. The Indians ascribe to it many and great virtues. 

 Thus they believe that it possesses marvellous sustaining powers, 

 and that its use enables them to undergo great fatigue and want 

 of sleep for a long time in the absence of food. Commonly the 

 Indians pass whole days in travelling or working without any 

 food, but simply chew coca ; but they eat freely in the evenings. 

 It is also employed as a stimulant or narcotic in the same manner 

 as tobacco, opium, and alcohol are thus used in other countries. 

 The use of coca is also said to prevent the difficulty of respiration 

 which is generally experienced in ascending high and steep 

 mountains. The leaves are likewise regarded as a very valuable 

 application to ulcers, boils, &c. ; also to stop haemorrhage ; and 

 for the relief of headache, neuralgia, &c. In the form of infu- 

 sion coca is also employed in asthma, colic, jaundice, hypochon- 

 driasis, and many other affections. Indeed, coca is to the 

 Indians almost a necessity, and to be deprived of it would be felt 

 by them more than the loss of any other substance. Every 

 Indian carries with him suspended from his belt a little bag or 

 pouch called huallqui or the chuspa, which contains coca ; and also 

 a little bottle-gourd or calabash (ishcupura) containing some 

 finely powdered lime, or wood ashes formed of the burnt stems of 

 the Chenopodium Quinoa, Cecropia peltata, or other plants. This 

 bottle-gourd has frequently a wooden or metal needle attached to 

 its stopper ; otherwise the Indian also takes with him a little stick 

 or slip of wood for the purpose of helping himself to its contents as 

 he desires. The native takes his coca three or four times a day ; 

 and in doing so he first removes the leaves separately from the 

 pouch and places them in his mouth, and with his tongue forms 

 them into a kind of ball ; he then moistens the slip of wood or 

 needle in the stopper of the calabash with saliva, and dips it into 

 the lime or wood ashes which is locally termed the Llipta, and 

 presses it on the ball of leaves in his mouth. The lime is added 

 as already noticed under the belief that it develops the flavour of 

 the coca, and also it is said to produce a flow of saliva, which is 



