= of chewing Coca has certainly some affinity 
with the practice that is universal among 
the Indians, of continually masticating 
something, such as roots, small twigs, and 
herbs, and also of rubbing their teeth with 
pieces of bitter or astringent kinds of wood, 
which latter is also done by the white Pe- 
_ Tuvians and Chilians. The first proprietors 
of mines among the Conquistadores soon 
found, that without a supply of Coca no 
exertions could be expected from the In- 
dians; and the Spaniards, who instantly 
set about cultivating it, were obliged to 
call in the aid of the Indians. These poor 
creatures, again compelled to quit the dry 
atmosphere of the Andes in order to tend 
moist low lands, died in such numbers, that 
a royal ordinance was issued in 1567, pro- 
hibiting the culture of a plant “ which is 
connected with the work of idolatry and 
Sorcery, strengthening the wicked in their 
delusions, and asserted by every competent 
judge to possess no true virtues, but, on 
the contrary, to cause the deaths of innu- 
merable Indians, while - ruins the health 
of the few who survive." Like too many 
well-meant public prohibitions, this was, 
however, soon evaded ; though repeated in 
the strictest manner by the second Council 
of Lima, in 1569. The profits were too 
temptingly great, for in Potosi the mono- 
poly produced to the Provincial Govern- 
ment a sum of not less than 500,000 p. d., 
from the consumption of 90—100,000 bas- 
kets, in the year 1583: and private indivi- 
duals also drew immense revenues from 
the produce of their Cocals, in the pro- 
vinces of Cuzco, La Paz, and La Plata. 
. Thus the poor Indians were compelled, as 
before, to labour at an employment which 
Ww was destructive to them, though orders to 
. the contrary were often sent from Madrid, 
the culture of the Coca greatly decreased, 
the aang number of its principal 
consumers, and the many Cocals that had 
been ES established, lowered the price 
rom this time up to the present 
AND PROPERTIES OF THE COCA. 
the plantations of Coca in the warm and. 
day, the shrub has been only grown in pri- 
vate plantations, and all forced labour is 
entirely prohibited by the Republican 
Constitution. 
The first expense of establishing a Cocal 
is trifling, compared with its returns, and 
as by good management and economy, = 
labour might be greatly diminished, 
the produce as much increased, so has 
are few branches of agriculture which 
might be rendered equally profitable. It 
is not easy to gain a correct estimate of the - 
expense and revenue of these plantations 
in a country where the land is so much 
diversified as in Peru, but the most expe- 
rienced planters in the Quebrada de Chin- 
chao have informed me that a Cocal, of 
which the original cost and current ex- 
penses enroute to 2,500 p. d. in the first 
twenty months, ought, at the end of ten 
months more, to bring a clear income of 
1,700 p. d. Good management and eco- 
nomy will always enable the proprietor to 
clear off every incumbrance in six years at 
most, when the profits would regularly yield 
45 per cent. on the capital, There is no- 
thing to be feared from a sudden drop in 
the price or the failure of a crop, and the 
losses from rainy weather are but partial. 
The reason why so few planters of Coca 
become rich under such favourable cireum- 
stances, must be sought for in the adequate 
cause, of their negligence, and particularly 
immoral lives. 
The value of Coca is estimated by car- 
goes or mule-loads of two tercios, contain- 
ing, together, about 7 arrobas, or 175 
Spanish pounds, and the price varies con- 
siderably, according to the distance to 
which it has to be conveyed. The planters ` 
generally contract with the merchants in 
town for their whole produce; but there is 
also a retail trade carried on with the coun- 
try people, who give their dried po 
and coarse woollen cloths for Coca, which 
they again sell at considerable profit. These 
poor but industrious Indians return home 
with gigantic loads on their backs, often 
wei m 100 to 150 lbs., often over 
very bad one and sometimes, as the na- 
tives of Huaylilla, perform a journey of — 
