CREOLE WORKMEN. 183 



The Incas employed the coca leaf, and it is said introduced it into their 

 church worship. Great attention was paid to its cultivation. They 

 were careful in the choice of land, descending to the eastward of Cuzco, 

 until they found the proper soil and climate. 



The Indians have a curious custom with regard to the coca. After 

 the ball in the mouth has lost all its flavor, they throw it against a rock. 

 Along the narrow roads on the Andes, where the rocks stand out in the 

 way, we have noticed their faces besmeared with the coca leaf after it 

 had undergone a thorough mastication. 



The men tell me they gather a crop of coca leaves every three months ; 

 sometimes the season fluctuates. As soon as the trees are stripped of 

 their leaves, fresh ones sprout out again during the lifetime of the bush, 

 which in the montana of Cuzco outlives a man. 



Among the workmen was a negro, and I never beheld a more 1 cheerful 

 face in any of his race. When he saw us, he grinned till it attracted 

 our attention particularly to him. He was fat and hearty ; his black 

 skin had a clear, ebony color, while his teeth were so white and lips so 

 red, it was plain to see he had no partiality for coca. He was excessively 

 polite in getting us seeds from the plant, fetching us water and oranges. 

 We are among fruits and flowers now — a congenial climate for the black 

 man. His wool was curled in most glossy locks and his heels projecting. 

 He was dressed in a white jacket and trousers, straw hat, but without 

 a shirt. 



The Creoles chewed coca and smoked tobacco. The negro luxuriated 

 upon oranges and bananas, which he guards from the ring-tailed 

 monkeys, who fancy the same food. This was his only annoyance, 

 for he naturally sides with the white man. 



Of the three colors of men, the cold country suits the red, the hot 

 the black, and the temperate the white. On the steppes of Cochabamba 

 the white man flourishes best. In the snowy regions the Indians seem 

 to be less sensitive to cold ; while in the heat of the tropical sun the 

 black shows his teeth to most advantage. 



Crossing the Espiritu Santo, we encamped on the chocolate planta- 

 tion, Minas Mayo, near the bank of a stream of the same name. We 

 had to wade ; the current was not very rapid, but with some danger of 

 losing our baggage, for the bottom was filled with round slippery stones, 

 whith made it difficult for the mules to keep their feet. 



The family on this plantation were gathering coffee in bags slung by 

 a strap round the neck, like the Brazilians gather it. The coffee-trees 

 here are about the same size as those of Rio Janeiro, and loaded down 

 with grains. There were only a few trees ; the amount raised is suffi- 



