46 



COCA PLANTATION. 



reached by a less precipitous way, crossing the ridge nearer Porcatambo, 

 and entering the montana further south. Such is the report of the 

 cascarilleros, who are the best authorities with whom we are willing to 

 consult. 



At night, I was politely given the centre of the floor of one of the 

 houses for my bed. Three men slept on one side of me, and the very 

 pretty woman of the house on the other, with a sucking baby between 

 us, which seemed to have a most extraordinary appetite for milk, and 

 kept a constant snuffling and pulling like a young pup. The houses are 

 built with bamboo, placed about four inches apart, that air may pass. 

 After we all got to sleep, something made a noise near our heads, and in 

 the morning tracks of a large tiger indicated his desire for a baby. The 

 men thought he must be a monster by the foot prints ; and pointed to 

 where he had his paw through the opening, but his arm was not long 

 enough. They are seldom so daring, and he must have been very 

 hungry. 



Gradually descending, we crossed the Tono river. Water, 63°; 

 air, 74°, at 9 30, a. m. The hills are getting smaller ; the road in 

 some places more level, until We suddenly come to a cleared pampa, 

 covered with a rich pasture, on which are grazing a drove of mules. 

 Four houses are built close to one another, and near them a large 

 patch of pine-apples. One Indian woman was at home; she was 

 Quichua. We afterwards arrived at San Miguel farm, where a number 

 of houses are built in a hollow square, with a little wooden church, and 

 fine orange trees in the centre, under the shade of which I was embraced 

 by Padre Julian Bovo de Revello, a Franciscan missionary, honorary 

 member of the Agricultural Society in Santiago de Chili. 



Monday, Sejjtember 22. — At 3 30, thermometer, 81°. We are now 

 on the eastern frontier settlement, where one hundred men are engaged 

 cultivating the coca plant. The seed is planted in rows like maize. In 

 two years the bush, five or six feet high, is full grown, bearing bright 

 green leaves, two inches long, with white blossoms, and scarlet berries. 

 The women and boys are now- gathering the ripe leaves, while the men 

 are clearing the fields of weeds. The gathering takes place three times 

 a year, in cotton bags. The leaf is spread out in the sun on mats and 

 dried. In wet weather they are spread under cover, and kept perfectly 

 dry, otherwise the quality is injured, and the market price very much 

 reduced. The bushes produce from forty to seventy years, when a new 

 planting becomes necessary. The leaves are put up in cotton cloth 

 bales of seventy-five pounds each, and sent to Cuzco, where it sells for 

 fifteen dollars per bale. The Indians masticate the leaf, and sometimes 



