248 OX COCA LEAVES. 



sowing, and once afterwards. The seed, which is black, is called first 

 sort gingelly, from the fact of its yielding the largest per centage of oil, 

 ripens in May, and sells at the rate of 60 rupees per candy of 500 lbs. 

 Second sort gingelly is sown in June, and produces a red seed. The 

 plant, although a little larger, resembles in most respects the former ; 

 it has, however, a somewhat longer leaf, and the flower differs a shade 

 or two in colour. A candy of 500 lbs. of this seed sells at 57^ rupees. 

 The price of this oil is the same as that of gingelly. The fixed or ex- 

 pressed oil, besides being eaten by the natives, is used medicinally, and 

 considered to possess emenagogue virtues. It possesses such qualities 

 as fairly entitle it to more general introduction into Europe, and if 

 divested of its mucilage, it might, perhaps, compete with olive oil, at 

 least for medicinal purposes, and could be raised in any quantity in 

 British India. It is sufficiently free from smell to admit of being made 

 the medium for extracting the perfume of the jasmine, tuberose, nar- 

 cissus, camomile, and yellow rose. The process is managed by adding 

 one weight of flowers to three weights of oil in a bottle, which, being 

 corked, is exposed to the rays of the sun for 40 days, when the oil is 

 supposed to be sufficiently impregnated for use. This oil, under the 

 name of gingelly oil, is used in India to adulterate oil of almonds. 

 The seeds are roasted, and ground into meal, and so eaten by the Hindoos. 

 It is used externally in rheumatism, also in the process of dyeing silk 

 a pale orange colour. Sesamum seed often contains about 45 or 46 per 

 cent, of oil ; the Ram-til seeds only 34 per cent. The price of the oil 

 varies in different districts, but the average is from 3 to 4 rupees a 

 maund. In England its value is about 501. per ton. 



ON COCA LEAVES— FROM ERYTHROXYLON COCA, 



BY HEXRY F. FISH. 



Coca, according to Herndon, is a bush about four feet high, with a 

 small light-green leaf. The flower is white, and the fruit a small red 

 berry. The seed is sown in beds, at the expiration of the rainy season — 

 about March 1st. Arbors of palm trees are frequently built over the 

 young shoots, to protect them from the sun, and they are watered, if it 

 continues clear, for a week or so. It is transplanted in September, a 

 year and a-half after planting, and gives its first crop in one year from 

 that time, and a crop every four months after. 



The bush, if not destroyed by ants, will give crops many years. Some 

 times, but rarely, the leaves wither, and the crop fails. It is necessary 

 to dry the leave?, when gathered, as quickly as possible, and to avoid 



