COCA-CULTIVATION.
THE coca-leaf is the great source of comfort and enjoyment to the
Peruvian Indian; it is to him what betel is to the Hindoo, kava to
the South Sea Islander, and tobacco to the rest of mankind; but its
use produces invigorating effects which are not possessed by the
other stimulants. From the most ancient times the Peruvians have
used this beloved leaf, and they still look upon it with feelings of
superstitious veneration. In the time of the Incas it was sacrificed
to the Sun, the Huillac Umu or high priest chewing the leaf during the
ceremony; and, before the arrival of the Spaniards, it was used, as the
cacao in Mexico, instead of money. After the conquest, although its
virtues were extolled by the Inca Garcilasso de la Vega,[315] and by
the Jesuit Acosta,[316] some fanatics proposed to proscribe its use,
and to root up the plants, because they had been used in the ancient
superstitions, and because its cultivation took away the Indians from
other work. The second council of Lima, consisting of bishops from all
parts of South America, condemned the use of coca in 1569 because it
was a "useless and pernicious leaf, and on account of the belief stated
to be entertained by the Indians that the habit of chewing coca gave
them strength, which is an illusion of the devil."[317]
In speaking of the strength the coca gives to those who chew it,
Garcilasso do la Vega relates the following anecdote. "I remember a
story which I heard in my native land of Peru, of a gentleman of rank
and honour, named Rodrigo Pantoja, who, travelling from Cuzco to Rimac
(Lima), met a poor Spaniard (for there are poor people there as well
as here) who was going on foot, with a little girl aged two years on
his back. The man was known to Pantoja, and they thus conversed. 'Why
do you go laden thus?' said the knight. The poor man answered that he
was unable to hire an Indian to carry the child, and for that reason he
carried it himself. While he spoke Pantoja looked in his mouth, and saw
that it was full of coca; and, as the Spaniards abominate all that the
Indians eat and drink, as though it savoured of idolatry, particularly
the chewing of coca, which seems to them a low and vile habit, he said,
'It may be as you say, but why do you eat coca like an Indian, a thing
so hateful to Spaniards?' The man answered, 'In truth, my lord, I
detest it as much as any one, but necessity obliges me to imitate the
Indians, and keep coca in my mouth; for I would have you to know that,
if I did not do so, I could not carry this burden; while the coca gives
me sufficient strength to endure the fatigue.' Pantoja was astonished
to hear this, and told the story wherever he went; and from that time
credit was giving to the Indians for using coca from necessity, and not
from vicious gluttony."
The Spanish Government interfered with the cultivation from more
worthy motives, and _mitas_ of Indians, for the purpose of collecting
coca-leaves, were forbidden in 1569, owing to the reputed unhealthiness
of the valleys.[318] Finally Don Francisco Toledo, viceroy of Peru,
permitted the cultivation with voluntary labour, on condition that the
Indians were well paid, and that care was taken of their healths. This
most prolific of Peruvian legislators issued no less than seventy
_ordenanzas_ on this subject alone, between the years 1570 and 1574.
Coca has always been one of the most valuable articles of commerce in
Peru, and it is used by about 8,000,000 of the human race.
The coca-plant (_Erythoxylon coca_)[319] is cultivated between 5000
and 6000 feet above the level of the sea, in the warm valleys of the
eastern slopes of the Andes, where almost the only variation of climate
is from wet to dry, where frost is unknown, and where it rains more or
less every month in the year. It is a shrub from four to six feet high,
with lichens, called _lacco_ in Quichua, usually growing on the older
trunks. The branches are straight and alternate; leaves alternate and
entire, in form and size like tea-leaves; flowers solitary with a small
yellowish-white corolla in five petals, ten filaments the length of the
corolla, anthers heart-shaped, and three pistils.
Sowing is commenced in December and January, when the rains begin,
which continue until April. The seeds are spread on the surface of
the soil in a small nursery or raising-ground called _almaciga_, over
which there is generally a thatch roof (_huasichi_). At the end of
about a fortnight they come up; the young plants being continually
watered, and protected from the sun by the _huasichi_. The following
year they are transplanted to a soil specially prepared by thorough
weeding, and breaking up the clods very fine by hand; often in terraces
only affording room for a single row of plants, up the sides of the
mountains, which are kept up by small stone walls. The plants are
generally placed in square holes called _aspi_, a foot deep, with
stones on the sides to prevent the earth from falling in. Three or
four are planted in each hole, and grow up together. In Caravaya and
Bolivia the soil in which the coca grows is composed of a blackish
clay, formed from the decomposition of the schists, which form the
principal geological features of the mountains. On level ground the
plants are placed in furrows called _uachos_, separated by little walls
of earth _umachas_, at the foot of each of which a row of plants is
placed; but this is a modern innovation, the terrace cultivation being
the most ancient. At the end of eighteen months the plants yield their
first harvest, and continue to yield for upwards of forty years. The
first harvest is called _quita calzon_, and the leaves are then picked
very carefully, one by one, to avoid disturbing the roots of the young
tender plants. The following harvests are called _mitta_ ("time" or
"season"), and take place three times and even four times in the year.
The most abundant harvest takes place in March, immediately after the
rains; the worst at the end of June, called the _mitta de San Juan_.
The third, called _mitta de Santos_, is in October or November. With
plenty of watering, forty days suffice to cover the plants with leaves
afresh. It is necessary to weed the ground very carefully, especially
while the plants are young, and the harvest is gathered by women and
children.
The green leaves, called _matu_, are deposited in a piece of cloth
which each picker carries, and are then spread out in the drying-yard,
called _matu-cancha_, and carefully dried in the sun. The dried leaf
is called _coca_. The drying-yard is formed of slate-flags, called
_pizarra_; and, when the leaves are thoroughly dry, they are sewn up
in _cestos_ or sacks made of banana-leaves, of twenty pounds each,
strengthened by an exterior covering of _bayeta_ or cloth.[320] They
are also packed in _tambores_ of fifty pounds each, pressed tightly
down. Dr. Poeppig reckoned the profits of a coca-farm to be forty-five
per cent.
The harvest is greatest in a hot moist situation; but the leaf
generally considered the best flavoured by consumers, grows in drier
parts, on the sides of hills. The greatest care is required in the
drying; for too much sun causes the leaves to dry up and lose their
flavour, while, if packed up moist, they become fetid. They are
generally exposed to the sun in thin layers.
Acosta says that in his time the trade in coca at Potosi was worth
500,000 dollars annually; and that in 1583 the Indians consumed
100,000 _cestos_ of coca, worth 2-1/2 dollars each in Cuzco, and 4
dollars in Potosi. In 1591[321] an excise of 5 per cent. was imposed
on coca; and in the years 1746 and 1750 this duty yielded 800 and
500 dollars respectively, from Caravaya alone. Between 1785 and 1795
the coca traffic was calculated at 1,207,430 dollars in the Peruvian
viceroyalty; and, including that of Buenos Ayres, 2,641,487 dollars.
In the district of Sandia, in Caravaya, there are two kinds of coca,
that of Ypara and that of Hatun-yunca, which has a larger leaf. The
yield is 45,000 cestos a year. In the yungus of La Paz, in Bolivia,
the yield is about 400,000 cestos. The coca-trade is a government
monopoly in Bolivia, the state reserving the right of purchasing from
the grower, and reselling to the consumer. This right is generally
farmed out to the highest bidder. In 1850 the coca-duty yielded 200,000
dollars to the Bolivian revenue.
The approximate annual produce of coca in Peru is about 15,000,000
lbs.,[322] the average yield being about 800 lbs. an acre. More than
10,000,000 lbs. are produced annually in Bolivia, according to Dr.
Booth of La Paz; so that the annual yield of coca throughout South
America, including Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Pasto, may be estimated
at more than 30,000,000 lbs. At Tacna the _tambor_ of 50 lbs. is
worth 9 to 12 dollars, the fluctuations in price being caused by the
perishable nature of the article, which cannot be kept in stock for
any length of time. The average duration of coca in a sound state, on
the coast, is about five months, after which time it is said to lose
flavour, and is rejected by the Indians as worthless.
The reliance on the extraordinary virtues of the coca-leaf, amongst the
Peruvian Indians, is so strong, that, in the Huanuco province, they
believe that, if a dying man can taste a leaf placed on his tongue, it
is a sure sign of his future happiness.[323]
No Indian is without his _chuspa_ or coca-bag, made of llama-cloth,
dyed red and blue in patterns, with woollen tassels hanging from it.
He carries it over one shoulder, suspended at his side; and, in taking
coca, he sits down, puts his _chuspa_ before him, and places the leaves
in his mouth one by one, chewing and turning them till he forms a ball.
He then applies a small quantity of carbonate of potash, prepared
by burning the stalk of the quinoa-plant, and mixing the ashes with
lime and water; thus forming cakes called _llipta_, which are dried
for use, and also kept in the _chuspa_.[324] This operation is called
_acullicar_ in Bolivia and Southern Peru, and _chacchar_ in the North.
They usually perform it three times in a day's work, and every Indian
consumes two or three ounces of coca daily.
In the mines of the cold region of the Andes the Indians derive great
enjoyment from the use of coca; the running _chasqui_, or messenger,
in his long journeys over the mountains and deserts, and the shepherd
watching his flock on the lofty plains, has no other nourishment than
is afforded by his _chuspa_ of coca, and a little maize. The smell of
the leaf is agreeable and aromatic, and when chewed it gives out a
grateful fragrance, accompanied by a slight irritation, which excites
the saliva. Its properties are to enable a greater amount of fatigue
to be borne with less nourishment, and to prevent the occurrence of
difficulty of respiration in ascending steep mountain-sides. Tea
made from the leaves has much the taste of green tea, and, if taken
at night, is much more effectual in keeping people awake. Applied
externally coca moderates the rheumatic pains caused by cold, and cures
headaches. When used to excess it is, like everything else, prejudicial
to the health, yet, of all the narcotics used by man, coca is the least
injurious, and the most soothing and invigorating.
The active principle of the coca-leaf has, a few years ago, been
separated by Dr. Niemann, and called _cocaine_. Pure _cocaine_
crystallizes with difficulty, is but slightly soluble in water, but is
easily dissolved in alcohol, and still more easily in ether.[325]
I chewed coca, not constantly, but very frequently, from the day of my
departure from Sandia, and, besides the agreeable soothing feeling it
produced, I found that I could endure long abstinence from food with
less inconvenience than I should otherwise have felt, and it enabled
me to ascend precipitous mountain-sides with a feeling of lightness
and elasticity, and without losing breath. This latter quality ought
to recommend its use to members of the Alpine Club, and to walking
tourists in general, though the sea voyage would probably cause the
leaves to lose much of their virtue. To the Peruvian Indian, however,
who can procure it within a few weeks of its being picked, the coca is
a solace which is easily procured, which affords great enjoyment, and
which has a most beneficial effect.[326]