74 THE ANDES OF SOUTHERN PERU 



from cane juice makes aguardiente (brandy). The latter is a 

 much more valuable product than sugar, hence (1) it will bear a 

 higher rate of transportation, or (2) it will at the same rate of 

 transportation yield a greater net profit. In a remote valley 

 where sugar could not be exported on account of high freight 

 rates brandy could still be profitably exported. 



The same may be said for coca and cacao. They are condensed 

 and valuable products. Both require more labor than sugar but 

 are lighter in bulk and thus have to bear, in proportion to their 

 value, a smaller share of the cost of transportation. At the end 

 of three years coca produces over a ton of leaves per acre per 

 year, and it can be made to produce as much as two tons to the 

 acre. The leaves are picked four times a year. They are worth 

 from eight to twelve cents gold a pound at the plantation or six- 

 teen cents a pound at Cuzco. An orchard of well-cultivated and 

 irrigated cacao trees will do even better. Once they begin to bear 

 the trees require relatively little care except in keeping out weeds 

 and brush and maintaining the water ditches. However, the pods 

 must be gathered at just the right time, the seeds must be raked 

 and dried with expert care, and after that comes the arduous 

 labor of the grinding. This is done by hand on an inclined plane 

 with a heavy round stone whose corners fit the hand. The choco- 

 late must then be worked into cakes and dried, or it must be 

 sacked in heavy cowhide and sewed so as to be practically air 

 tight. When eight or ten years old the trees are mature and each 

 may then bear a thousand pounds of seed. 



If labor were cheap and abundant the whole trend of tropical 

 agriculture in the eastern valleys would be toward intensive culti- 

 vation and the production of expensive exports. But labor is ac- 

 tually scarce. Every planter must have agents who can send men 

 down from the plateau towns. And the planter himself must use 

 his labor to the best advantage. Aguardiente requires less labor 

 than cacao and coca. The cane costs about as much in labor the 

 first year as the coca bush or the cacao tree, but after that much 

 less. The manufacture of brandy from the cane juice requires lit- 

 tle labor though much expensive machinery. For chocolate, a 



