COCA— ITS USES AND ABUSES. 



569 



The sultry valleys on the eastern slopes of the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes are 

 the seat of the Erythroxylon Coca^ which like the coflfee-tree bears a lustrous green 

 foliage, and white blossoms ripening into small, scarlet berries. These, however, are 

 not used, but the leaves, which when brittle enough to break on being bent, are 

 stripped from the plant, dried in the sun, and closely packed in sacks. The naked 

 shrub soon gets covered with new foliage, and after three or four months its leaves are 

 ready for a second plucking, though in some of the higher mountain-valleys it can 

 only be stripped once a year. Every eight or ten years the plantations require to be 

 renewed, as the leaves of the old shrubs are less juicy, and consequently of inferior 

 quality. Like the coffee-tree, the coca shrub thrives only in a damp situation, under 

 shelter from the sun ; and for this reason maize, which rapidly shoots up, is generally 

 sown between the rows of the young plants. At a later period, when they no longer 

 need this protection, care must be taken to weed the plantation, and to loosen the soil 

 every two or three months. 



The local consumption of coca is immense, as the Peruvian Indian reckons its habitual 

 use among the prime necessaries of life, and is never seen without his leathern pouch 

 or chuspa, filled with a provision of the leaves, and containing besides a small box of 

 powdered unslaked lime. At least three times a day he rests from his work to chew 

 his indispensable coca. Carefully taking a few leaves out of the i)ag, and removing 

 their midribs, he first masticates them into the shape of a small ball, which is called an 

 aculUco ; then repeatedly inserting a thin piece of moistened wood like a toothpick 

 into the box of unslaked lime, he introduces the powder which remains attached to it 

 into the acullico until the latter has acquired the requisite flavor. The saliva, which 

 is abundantly secreted while chewing the pungent mixture, is mostly swallowed along 

 with the green juice of the plant. When the acullico is exhausted, another is imme- 

 diately prepared, for one seldom suflQces. The corrosive sharpness of the unslaked 

 lime requires some caution, and an unskilled coca-chewer runs the risk of burning 

 his lips, as, for instance, the celebrated traveler Tschudi, who, by the advice of his 

 muleteer, while crossing the high mountain passes of the Andes, attempted to make an 

 acullico, and instead of strengthening himself as he expected, merely added excru- 

 ciating pain to the fatigues of the journey. The taste of coca is slightly bitter and 

 aromatic, like that of bad green tea, but the addition of lime or of the sharp ashes of 

 the quinoa, renders it less disagreeable to the European palate. 



It is a remarkable fact that the Indians who regularly use coca require but little 

 food, and when the dose is augmented are able to undergo the greatest fatigues, without 

 tasting almost anything else. Poppig ascribes this astonishing increase of endurance 

 to a momentary excitement, which must necessarily be succeeded by a corresponding 

 collapse, and therefore considers the use of coca absolutely hurtful. Tschudi, however, 

 is of opinion that its moderate consumption far from being injurious, is, on the con- 

 trary, extremely wholesome, and cites the examples of several Indians who, never 

 allowing a day to pass without chewing their coca, attained the truly patriarchal age 

 of one hundred and thirty years. The ordinary food of these people consists almost 

 exclusively of roasted maize or barley, which is eaten dry without any other addition : 

 and the obstinate obstructions caused by these mealy alimerlts are obviated by the tonic 

 effects of the coca, which thus removes the cause of many maladies. It may be 

 remarked, that a similar reason is assigned for the custom of areka and betel chewing 



