324     ON  COCA  OR  FOLHA  SAGRADA — ERYTHROXYLON  COCA. 
out  resting  and  without  protection  against  the  unfavorable  influ- 
ences of  climate.  They  march  hundreds  of  miles  through  deserts 
and  over  steep  mountains,  subsisting  solely  on  coca,  and  fre- 
quently carry  burdens  over  places  impassable  for  beasts  of  bur- 
den. Some  travellers  ascribe  this  astonishing  frugality  and 
abstinence  from  food  to  the  effect  of  habit,  without  remembering 
that  the  Indians  are  naturally  very  voracious,  and  lose  their 
strength  when  abstaining  from  chewing  the  leaves. 
Coca  leaves  have  a  faint  and  agreeably  aromatic  odor,  par- 
ticularly when  chewed ;  their  taste  is  somewhat  bitter  and 
astringent,  and  colors  the  saliva  green.  They  are  strengthening,, 
giving  tone  to  the  stomach,  and  are  employed  against  intermit- 
tents,  though  with  less  decided  results  than  cinchona.  They 
are  mixed  with  lime  prepared  from  certain  plants,  and  used  like 
betel  in  the  Indies.  With  it  and  a  handful  of  roasted  corn, 
(maize),  an  Indian  travels  a  hundred  miles  afoot,  keeping  pace 
with  a  travelling  horse.  Travels  in  the  Andes  are  undertaken 
with  an  Indian,  and  it  happens  on  hot  days,  that  the  horse  is 
fatigued  before  the  Indian.* 
It  is  a  narrow  leaf,  little  over  an  inch  in  length  ;  there  are 
two  species,  one  2,  the  other  1|  inches  in  diameter,  (length?). 
The  former  is  called  caeha^  and  is  superior  and  more  esteemed 
than  the  commoner  one,  which  is  used  only  in  cases  of  need  and 
by  the  poorest  people. 
The  culture  of  this  shrub  is  very  troublesome,  it  being  subject 
to  the  attacks  of  a  little  insect,  which  sometimes  devastates  a 
whole  phintation  in  a  single  night.  Three  years  after  planting, 
the  shrub  commences  to  bear  fruit.  The  harvest  of  coca,  called 
palla,  is  very  laborious,  and  usually  left  to  women  ;  they  com- 
mence at  dawn  to  collect  the  coca  into  little  trunks,  leaf  by  leaf, 
with  the  greatest  care,  so  as  not  to  break  the  stalks  or  otherwise 
injure  them  ;  a  good  workman  fills  ten  such  little  trunks  by  night. 
The  collected  leaves  are  dried  in  the  sun  for  two  or  three  days 
with  great  care,  so  as  not  to  become  wet  or  moist,  whereby  they 
*It  has  been  varioTlslj  proposed  to  supply  emigrant  and  other  ships  with 
coca  leaves,  to  he  used  as  food  in  case  of  shipwreck  and  other  accidents.  Their 
introduction  into  the  army  and  nary  has  likewise  been  advocated,  and  it  is 
likely  that  they  will  be  employed  in  some  of  the  European  armies,  in  order  to 
test  their  efficacy  in  keeping  up  the  strength  and  vigor  of  the  men  in  urgent 
oases  when  food  cannot  be  had. 
