Appendix. 397 



a foundation of stone, at the height of at least sixty or seven- 

 ty feet from the ground. 



" Palermo offers little that is interesting in mineralogy. 

 The able Ferrara tells me that the whole region is transi- 

 tion limestone, and calcareous tufa, and that the only inter- 

 esting minerals are jasper and agate. It is situated much 

 like New-Haven, on a plain, surrounded by mountains. 

 The country is beautiful. 



" The weather has been as mild as September is with us. 

 In two instances only have we had a little snow, whiclt 

 melted immediately. Green peas and other vegetables are 

 abundant. Oranges are just ripening." 



APPENDIX. 



Communicated (in MS.) for this Journal. 



Read before the New- York Lyceum of Natural History, April 30, 1821.— 

 (This communication came too late for insertion in its proper place. — 

 Editor.) 



The Coca of Peru ; a plant whose leaves are employed 

 most extensively by the native Americans for a masticato- 

 ry, as the Asiatics chew Betel. 



Abstract from a communication of Hippolite Unanue^ 

 Proto-medico of Peru, Secretary of the Philosophical So- 

 ciety at Lima, &;c. he. to Samuel L. Mitchill, dated at 

 Lima, 1st Feb. 1821. 



The internal commerce in the leaves of the Coca is im- 

 mense throughout the provinces of this viceroy, although it 

 is in extensive and constant use, both in Upper and Lower 

 Peru. The aboriginal natives are the principal consumers. 



The native Indians believe the use of the Coca to be in- 

 dispensable. They must chew it, or cease to live. The 

 Spaniards, employ it merely as a remedy; or whenever the 

 inclemency of the season'induces them to adopt the Indian 

 custom. Its operation is similar in almost every particu- 

 lar, to that which the East-Indians experience from Be-' 

 tel. The leaves are the parts gathered for the mouth. 

 They excite a flow of spittle, which is not rejected as by 



