Useless for every active pursuit 
self to the greatest dangers, for the sake of 
. gratifying this degrading propensity. As 
the stimulus of the Coca is most fully de- 
veloped when the body is exhausted with 
= toil, or the mind with conversation, the 
. poor victim then hastens to some retreat in 
the gloomy native wood, and flinging him- 
self under a tree, remains stretched out 
_ there, heedless of night or of storms, un- 
d: protected by covering or by fire, uncon- 
. 8cious of the floods of rain and of the tre- 
. mendous winds which sweep the forest; 
= and after yielding himself, for two or three 
entire days, to the occupation of chewing 
Coca, returns home to his abode, with 
trembling limbs and a pallid countenance, 
_ the miserable spectacle of unnatural enjoy- 
ment. Whoever accidentally meets the 
|. €0quero under such circumstances, and by 
"d Speaking interrupts the effect of this intox- 
* ication, is sure to draw upon himself the 
hatred of the half-maddened creature. The 
Man who is once seized with the passion 
for this practice, if placed in circumstances 
Which favour its indulgence, is a ruined 
 Semg. Many instances were related to us 
an Peru, where young people of the best 
les, by occasional visiting of the fo- 
Tests, have begun to use Coca for the sake 
9f passing the time away; and, acquiring 
à relish for it, have, from that period, been 
lost to civilization, and as if seized by 
Some malevolent instinct, refuse to return 
à their homes, and resisting the entreaties 
of their friends, who occasionally discover 
He haunts of these unhappy fugitives, ei- 
ERR I PON y 
455 are embittered by the presence of 
uized society, where the white coquero 
shunned as the most dissolute drunkard, 
Soon sinking into a semi-barbarous 
and degrading their white hue, which 
eath from 
re use of this intoxicating leaf. 
AND PROPERTIES OF THE COCA, 
‘to steam by the warmth of his 
An example of this kind fell under my own 
notice, in an individual who lived with me 
in the solitary Pampayaco, and unworthily 
bore the honoured appellation of Calde- 
rone. He was of the fairest colour and of 
very good descent, but, for twenty years, 
had resided in the montana, where from 
compassion, he was permitted to inhabit a 
hut, more fit for a savage than for a white 
man. Although scarce forty years of age, 
he was more decrepid than many a person 
of sixty, and utterly useless for any com- 
mon purpose of life, as no one could de- 
pend on his word. Priding himself exces- 
sively, like all Creoles, on his white colour, 
yet utterly averse to any exertion, the mere ` 
idea of a city life, with its accompanying 
restraints, was hateful to hi s he was 
a decided coguero, he could only be of 
service when it was practicable to keep 
this intoxicating herb from him; but when 
once the passion had irresistibly seized 
him, which was, at least, every month, he 
would break through all restraints ; and, 
disappearing in the forest, was lost for * 
many days, after which he would emerge, 
sick, powerless, and altered. He was of 
some use to me, as a good and eager sports- 
man, and, by liberally supplying him with 
such fine gunpowder as he could not ob- 
* 
confidence and good will. 
was generally kind, but any remonstrance — 
against his vices, would throw him into an 
ungovernable rage. He has frequently as- — 
sured me, in confidential moments, that he 
would rather, as he has done for months 
together, live alone in the midst of some 
Coca shrubs, in the most solitary spot in 
the wilderness, depending for support on — — 
his fishing-line and gun, than return home — 
to his family at Huanuco. His description 
of the lovely visions that appeared to him 
in the forest at night, and of his delicious 
sensations at such moments, had some- 
thing in it truly awful. "When it rained, 
he used to cover his half-naked body with 
the soddened leaves that had fallen from the — 
trees; and, he assured me, that when this 
23 
retch abe 
person 
5 DIO 
