648 



beside magnesia and silex in equal portions, a 

 small quantity of oxid of copper. Mr Goldber- 

 ry had seen the Negroes in Africa, in the islands 

 of Bunck and Los Idolos, eat an earth of which 

 he had himself eaten, without being incommod- 

 ed by it, and which also was a white and friable 

 steatite*. In looking over these examples, 

 which are all taken from the torrid zone, we are 

 struck by the idea of finding a taste, which 

 nature it would seem should have reserved for 

 the inhabitants of the most steril regions, prevail 

 among races of rude and indolent men, who live 

 in the finest and most fertile countries on the 

 globe. We saw at Popayan, and in several 

 mountainous parts of Peru, lime reduced to a 

 very fine powder, sold in the public markets to 

 the natives among other articles of provision. 

 This powder, when used, is mingled with coca, 

 that is, with the leaves of the erythroxylon peru- 

 vianum. It is well known, that Indian messen- 

 gers take no other aliment for whole days than 

 lime and coca ; both excite the secretion of 

 spittle, and of the gastric juice ; they take away 

 the appetite, without giving any nourishment to 

 the body. In other parts of South America, on 

 the coast of Rio de la Hacha, the Guajiroes swal- 

 low lime alone, without adding any vegeta- 

 ble matter to it. They always carry with them 



* Goldberry, Voyage en Afrique, vol ii, p. 455, 



