INDIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



143 



right shoulder. This antique is in tolerablep reservation, although the owner, from whose body- 

 it was taken, has long been reduced to dust. 



The magic effects ascribed by old writers to the use of coca — enabling men to pass days 

 without food, and under severe labors — are testified to by modern travellers. Von Tschudi 

 says it is in the highest degree nutritious ; that with its aid miners and others undergo incred- 

 ible fatigue on very spare diet; that those who are in the habit of masticating it require little 

 food, &c. Though a powerful stimulant, and its effects on the looks of inveterate chewers 

 anything but attractive, its moderate use, he thinks, is not merely innoxious, but conducive to 

 health. An Indian employed by him in laborious digging for five days and nights, tasted no 

 food during that time. Every three hours he chewed half an ounce of coca-leaves, and kept a 

 quid continually in his mouth. Individuals of great age have chewed it from infancy. He 

 refers to Indians who have attained 130 years. One living in 1839 was 142 years old, and for 

 90 years had never tasted water — not a drop ! During that time he had drunk only cJiicha — a 

 filthy and intoxicating liquor. When 11 years of age, he began to chew coca three times a 

 day, and continued the practice through the rest of his life. Von Tschudi's account of the 

 plant and its culture is substantially the same as that of old Garcilasso. 



Specimens of carving by modern Peruvians are subjoined. Figures 1 and 2 are spoons, each 

 cut out of one piece of wood. Figure 3 is one of their knives. The blade, hammered out of 

 hoop-iron, was secured in a slit in the haft by strong cotton twine. It is not unusual for Peru- 

 vian Indians to pass over into the southwestern provinces of Brazil with little ventures of carved 

 work. The specimens figured were purchased from one of the travelling artists. 



