250 OX COCA LEAVES. 



« 



barbarously enslaved by the Spaniards in their own country, and so in- 

 humanly overtasked and otherwise ill-treated, use coca. 



In their circumstances, it is really a necessary analeptic, or restora- 

 tive, without which they would hardly be able to tolerate the labour 

 imposed upon them. Travellers tell us that the only thing that prevents 

 despair and revolt among those employed in the mines, is their being 

 allowed a free use of coca. 



It would hardly be correct to say that they use it as a matter of sen- 

 suality. (Tally s Mat. Med. Article " Euphrenics "). 



But by far the most extended notice yet published on coca is one 

 given at Milan by Dr. Mantegazza, a translation of which appeared in the 

 ' Lond. Pharm. Jour.' June, 1860, and is as follows : — 



The Erythroxylon Coca, a plant which groAvs in moist and woody 

 regions, on the eastern slopes of the Andes, is highly valued by the in- 

 habitants of Peru, Chili, and Bolivia, not only as a medicine, but also as 

 an article of food ; and serves with them as a substitute for the tea, 

 coffee, betel, tobacco, hasehish, and opium used by other nations. Its 

 culture, upon which, since the time of Pizarro's conquest, much atten- 

 tion has been bestowed, has recently increased to such a degree, that in 

 the year 1836 the revenue of the republic of Bolivia from the sale of 

 this herb amounted to 2,470,000 dollars, a very large sum when com- 

 pared with the population (only 800,000), but it is likely that some of 

 the crop is exported. 



According to the account of M. Poppiz, and of other well-known 

 travellers, the natives use the dried leaves of the Coca either by them- 

 selves, or in combination with a highly attractive substance called 

 Clipta, which is prepared from roasted potatoes and the ashes of other 

 plants ; they masticate it as the Malays do betel. The use of this, 

 considered there as a great delicacy, is not however, confined to the rich ; 

 on the contrary, it is particularly among the hard-working Indians that 

 the Coca enjoys a high reputation as a nutritient restorative, and its use 

 is considerel absolutely requisite to the comfortable endurance of fatigue 

 and exertion, so that a labourer in making his contract has a view not 

 only to his wages, but to the amount of Coca furnished. 



The Inca who lives at a height ranging from 7,000 to 15,000 feet 

 above the sea level, and whose meagre fare consists only of maize, dried 

 meat, and inferior potatoes, believes that he can sustain his strength 

 solely by the use of coca. The peon who carries the mail, and who 

 accompanies the traveller over the roughest roads, at the quick pace of 

 the mule, invigorates and strengthens himself by the use of coca. The 

 Indian who works half naked in the various mines looks upon this plant 

 as an ambrosia capable of imparting new life and stimulating to new 

 exertion. It is not surprising under such circumstances that the use of 

 this article should be very much abused, and that the evil of intempe- 

 rance in the consumption of coca, known as Coqular, should be quite as 

 prevailing among the natives of those districts as intemperance in the 



