38 
ON  THE  LEAVES  OF  THE  COCA. 
last  operation  I  have  mentioned,  is  especially  needful  while  the 
shrubs  are  young.  The  weeding,  which  is  regularly  performed 
after  each  crop  has  been  collected,  is  called  mazi. 
The  collection  of  the  leaves  of  the  Hryiliroxylon  is  performed 
much  in  the  same  way  as  that  of  tea.  It  is,  in  general,  women 
and  children  that  are  employed  upon  this  operation,  which  is  all 
the  easier  from  the  presence  of  the  little  walls  separating  the 
furrows  of  the  plantation.  The  gatherer  squats  down,  and  hold- 
ing with  one  hand  the  branch  she  wishes  to  pluck,  removes  with 
the  other  all  the  leaves,  often  one  by  one.  The  leaves  are  de- 
posited in  a  cloth  which  each  Indian  carries  with  her,  and  after- 
wards collected  in  sacks  or  some  other  recipients  to  be  carried 
from  the  plantation. 
Nothing  is  now  easier  than  the  preparation  of  the  Coca,  The 
leaves  are  carried  from  the  plantation  to  the  house,  or  casa  de 
hacienda,  where  they  are  spread  out  in  the  sun,  in  little  courts 
constructed  especially  for  the  purpose,  and  the  floors  of  which 
are  formed  of  slabs  of  black  schist  (pizara  ;)  if  the  weather  is  fine 
they  are  left  there  until  completely  dry,  which  takes  place  with- 
out their  shape  becoming  altered.  They  are  then  packed  with 
strong  pressure  into  bags  made  of  the  sheath  of  the  banana  leaf, 
strengthened  with  an  outer  covering  of  coarse  woollen  canvas. 
The  bales  thus  formed  contain,  on  an  average,  twenty-four  pounds 
of  leaves,  and  go  by  the  name  of  cestos.  The  tambor  is  a  bale 
of  double  the  size  of  the  eesto,  whose  price  at  La  Paz  varies  from 
4J  to  6  piastres  (22  fr.  50  c.  to  30  fr.) 
I  have  endeavored  to  collect  some  data  as  to  the  average  pro- 
duction of  the  plantations  of  coca  in  the  province  of  Yungas,  but 
the  information  given  me  on  this  subject  is  but  vague.  The  sur- 
face under  cultivation  is  estimated  by  the  cato,  a  superficial 
measure  varying  according  to  the  district,  but  which  appears,  on 
an  average,  to  equal  about  900  square  metres  (9  ares.}  The 
produce  of  the  most  flourishing  coca  grounds  of  Yungas  appears 
to  be  in  the  proportion  of  from  eleven  to  twelve  cestos,  i.  e.  264 
to  288  pounds,  of  dried  leaves  per  cato,  whilst  the  poorest  plan- 
tations afford  but  from  one  to  two  cestos  at  each  gathering.  The 
medium  production  would  be  from  seven  to  eight  cestos  per  cato. 
The  annual  produce  of  the  whole  province  is  estimated  at  more 
than  400,000  cestos,  or  9,600,000  Spanish  pounds, 
(To  be  continued.) 
