344 A VOYAGE TO Book VI. 



knowledge, and obfervation, that he may avoid what- 

 ever is hurtful to his bein.j;-, and the irrational fpecies 

 receive the like notices from inftindl, and are not lefs 

 obfervant than man. The people who travel along 

 thefe valiies, where they are fo much in danger of 

 thefe coyas, according to the warning before given 

 them by the Indians who attend themj though they feel 

 fomethins: ftino-ins; them or crawlino; on their neck or 

 face, are careful not to fcratch the part, nor even fo 

 much as lift up their hands to it, the coya being of 

 fuch a delicate texture that it would immediately 

 burft : and as there is no danger whilft they do not 

 ejecl the humour in them, the perfon acquaints fome 

 one of the company vv'ith v»'hat he feels, and points 

 to the place ; if it be a coya, the other blows it away. 

 The beads, who are not capable of fuch warning, are 

 yet by inftinct taught a precaution againll the danger,, 

 which may refult from thefe infefls in the paftures i 

 for before they offer to touch the herbage, they blow 

 on it with all their force in order to difperfe any of 

 thefe pernicious vermin and when their fmell ac- 

 quaints them that they are near a neft of coyas, they 

 immediately leap back and run to fome other part. 

 Thus they fecure themfelves from the venom of thefe 

 infe6is, though fometimes a mule, after all its blow- 

 ing, has been known to take in fome with its paflure, 

 on which, after fweiling to a frightful degree, they 

 have expired on the fpot. 



. Among the plants of the country of Popayan, in 

 the jurifdiccion cf Timana, grows the cuca or coca, 

 an herb fo efteem.ed by the Indians in fome provinces 

 of Peru, that they would part with any kind of pro- 

 vifions, the moit valuable metals, gems, or any thing 

 dfe, rather than want it. It growls on a weak flem, 

 v/hich for fupport tv^ifts itfelf round another ftronger 

 vegetable like the vine. Its leaf is about an inch and 

 a half or two inches in length, and extremely fmooth 

 the ufe the Indians make of it is for chewing, mixing 



it 



