162 
- ploy it as the Eastern nations do vdd 
and those ef more civilized countries, Al- 
cohol, cannot fail to be acceptable to our 
readers. Ep.] 
The Coca (Erythroxylon Coca, of La- 
marck) is a shrub of six or eight feet high, 
and to the eyes of an individual, unprac- 
tised in Botany, presents the general ap- 
pearance of a straight-growing Black Thorn 
bush; its numerous small white flowers 
and the pleasing green of its leaves occa- 
sioning this similarity. A large plantation 
of Coca, while in this state, is an agreeable 
object, though less beautiful than a well- 
kept Coffee-ground. The frequent strip- 
ping of the foliage of Coca soon reduces it to 
naked brushwood, and it is but slowly that 
it regains its verdant garb. These leaves, 
which are gathered and dried with great 
_care, form the object of a brisk trade, and 
the use of them is as ancient as our first 
knowledge of Peruvian history; for the 
rude primitive people received the Coca 
from the Cadmus of the lofty mountains of 
Titicaca, and wherever the Incas afterwards 
penetrated, they distributed it as a boon 
among the conquered nations. To the pre- 
sent day, we see the Indian, stretched out 
unsociably in the shade, Misrnntely putting 
some Coca-leaves and some finely-powdered 
chalk into his mouth, Silently, as unwil- 
ling to be disturbed by conversation, he 
_ whiles away a good half hour in the enjoy- 
ment of this occupation, slowly swallowing 
the saliva and renewing the masticated 
leaves by fresh ones; and, while thus en- 
gaged, not all the haste and impatience of i 
the traveller, nor even the approach of a 
heavy storm, can rouse the Indian from 
this state of intolerable apathy. The ser- 
SOME ACCCUNT OF THE USES 
from the enjoyment of this vice, for every — 
one declares he would sooner forego the - 
most necessary things; and the appetite | 
for it increases with age, bringing with it | 
many evil consequences. Strangers are - 
amazed at beholding such an € ] 
passion for a leaf, which, whether fresh or 
dry, is only distinguished by a slight scent, 
possesses no balsamic properties, and when ' 
taken in small quantities, has merely a — 
grassy, or at most, a bitterish taste. The - 
difficulty, however, vanishes when the ob- ; 
servation of its effect upon others, or one’s 
own personal experience, convinces us that — 
the Coca, by its property of stimulating - 
the nervous system, possesses a power, 
much akin to that of opium. Rude nations | 
have ever sought for artificial excitementaam 
and the lower do a people stand in the scale | 
of intellectual ability, so much the more 
attractive to them is that means of exhilaz : 
ration which removes, for a time, the con- 
sciousness of a dreary waste within. The | 
American Indians, and especially those of- 
the Peruvian Andes, though surrounded 
by civilization, are enthralled by a melan 
and inability to improve themselves, whence | 
arises their passion for artificial stimuli, 
whether supplied by the Coca or by the 
in his. usual condition. - 
its first effects than Opium, the Coca i 
perhaps, more dangerous from their lo 
continuance, 
alone convince the novice of this fact, 
without it, the long train of ills whic 
attach. the Peruvian walls never be ie 
