OUR LADY OF YONGAS.
And all my days are trances;
And all my nightly dreams
Are where thy dark eye glances,
And where thy footstep gleams:
In what etherial dances,
By what eternal streams.
E. A. POE.
To the Peruvian the province of Yongas de la Paz in the North-East
of Bolivia is an El Dorado, because _there_ grows in the greatest
profusion and luxuriance his favorite Coca. We may look with delight
towards the island of Ceylon, and, in imagination, snuff the fragrant
breezes that have passed over the cinnamon groves and coffee
plantations; or direct the gaze of our children across the map of the
world to South-Eastern China, and inform them that from thence our
good dames receive their tea; and thence to the United States, and add
that from this place their worthy sires receive the greater part of
their tobacco. But the affections of the Peruvian are not so divided;
they are located upon one spot, and _that_ the province of the “warm
valleys,” or the Yungas de la Paz; there dwells his patron saint, and
from thence _he_ receives the “keys of Paradise.”
At the time of the conquest the Coca was only used by the Incas, and
those of the royal, or rather solar, blood. It was cultivated for the
monarch and for the solemnities of their religion; none might raise it
to his mouth, unless he had rendered himself worthy by his services to
partake of this honour with his sovereign. The plant was looked upon as
an image of divinity, and no one entered the enclosures where it was
cultivated without bending the knee in adoration. The divine sacrifices
made at that period were thought not to be acceptable to Heaven, unless
the victims were crowned with branches of this tree. The oracles
made no reply, and auguries were terrible if the priest did not chew
_coca_ at the time of consulting them. It was an unheard of sacrilege
to invoke the shades of the departed great without wearing the plant
in token of respect, and the Coyas and Mamas who were supposed to
preside over gold and silver, rendered the mines impenetrable unless
propitiated by it. In the course of time its use extended, and
gradually became the companion of the whole Indian population. To this
plant the native recurred for relief in his greatest distress; no
matter whether want or disease oppressed him, or whether he sought the
favours of Fortune or Love, he found consolation in the “divine plant.”
The word by which this plant is known has been referred, for its
etymology, to the Aymara language, in which _Khoka_ signifies _tree_ or
_plant_. It is known that the shrub producing the Matè or Paraguay tea,
the favourite beverage of many South American nations, is called _la
Yerba_, i.e. _the plant_. As also in Mexico tobacco was called _yetl_,
and by the Peruvians _Sagri_, meaning in those languages _the herb_, so
we, occasionally, are apt to designate the latter article _the weed_.
Showing, that to those persons or nations who have appropriated such
names, trivial in themselves, to the different articles of consumption,
these plants were in themselves pre-eminent in the vegetable creation,
as, in another instance, we have shown our appreciation of one book
above all others, century after century, by the simple designation of
_The Book_.
In Europe, the historians of the conquest gave the first information
of the sacred plant of the Peruvians; this was, however, merely
superficial. In 1569, Monardes, and in 1605 Clusius, wrote concerning
it, but the leaves of the plant itself were not seen until brought over
by one of the companions of La Condamine, Joseph de Jussieu, who nearly
lost his life in 1749, while crossing the Cordilleras in search of this
plant. He was compelled to cross the mountains, covered as they were
with snow, on foot, descending by means of paths cut out like ladders,
and overhanging frightful precipices. The intensity of the sun’s
rays, reflected by the snow, caused him the most distressing pains in
the eyes, and almost blinded him, but the success of his expedition
consoled him for the misfortunes that he had endured.
This shrub rises to the height of from four to eight feet, the stem
covered with whitish tubercles, which appear to be formed of two curved
lines set face to face. The leaves are oblong, and acute at each end,
from an inch and a half to two inches in length. The leaves are the
only parts used, for which purpose they are collected and dried. The
shrub is found wild in Peru, according to Pöppig, in the environs of
Cuchero, and on the stony summit of the Cerro de San Christobal. It is
cultivated extensively in the mild, but very moist climate of the Andes
of Peru, at from 2,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea level; in colder
situations it is apt to be killed, and in warmer to lose the flavour
of the leaf.
The coca plant is propagated from seed sown in nursery beds and
carefully watered. When about sixteen or eighteen inches high they
are transplanted into plantations called _cocals_, in terraces upon
the sides of the mountains. At the end of a year and a half the plant
affords its first crop, and from this period to the age of forty years
or more it continues to yield a supply. Instances have been noticed
of coca plantations that have existed for near a century; but the
greatest abundance of leaves is obtained from plants between the third
and sixth years. There are four gatherings in the season; the first
takes place at the period of flowering, and consists of the lower
leaves only. These are larger and less finely flavoured than those
afterwards collected, and are mostly consumed at once. The next and
most abundant harvest takes place in March; the third and most scanty,
in June or July, and the last in November. The leaves are collected
similarly to those of tea. Women and children are employed for this
purpose. The gatherer squats down, and holding the branch with one
hand, plucks from it the leaves, one by one, with the other. These
are deposited in a cloth, from which they are afterwards collected
into sacks to be conveyed from the plantation. The sacks of leaves
are carried to the _haciendas_, where they are spread upon a floor of
black slate to dry in the sun. They are then packed up in bales made
of banana leaf, closely pressed together, each bale containing on an
average twenty-four pounds. The price realised to the cultivator is one
shilling per pound.
Dr. Weddell endeavoured to obtain reliable information as to the
quantity of coca cultivated and collected in the province of Yongas,
and states, as a result, that the annual produce is about 400,000
bales, or 9,600,000 Spanish pounds. There is also a large cultivation,
not only in other parts of Bolivia, and in Peru, but also in parts
of Brazil, so that this cannot represent more than half the amount
of the annual consumption of coca. It is true that Pöppig estimated
fifteen millions of pounds as the quantity consumed, but this would
be too small. On the other hand, Johnston estimates the consumption
at thirty millions of pounds; this is, probably, erring rather on the
contrary side. Of this quantity he estimates the value at one million
and a half sterling, and concludes that the chewing of coca is indulged
in by about ten millions of the human race. This again is rather a
“long bow;” the use of coca seems to be confined to Peru, Bolivia, and
Brazil—at any rate, it is confined to South America, and there is no
mention of its indulgence in Chili to the South, or in the Columbian
Republics to the North. It would, moreover, confer upon us somewhat
of a personal favour, were some one to convince us that the male
population of South America amounts to the number which the professor
has estimated as that of the indulgers in coca. Our own impression is,
that the entire population has only been estimated at seventeen and a
quarter millions: this is, at least, the mean of four very respectable
authorities. Suppose half of these to be children, and half of the
residue females, and we have only an adult male population of less than
four and a half millions in the southern half of the New World. Ye
shades of Cocker and De Morgan! tell us how from these we can subtract
ten millions who indulge in coca, and yet show a remainder, be it ever
so small, of abstainers. But it has never been affirmed that coca was
indulged in, except in Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. The population of
these three countries amount, according to the higher authorities, only
to ten millions, so that every man, woman, and child, must be a coquero
to reach the estimated number. Viewing this subject in another of its
phases—Johnston states that the average consumption of the coquero
is from one ounce to one ounce and a half per day, or, according to
ordinary computation, twenty-two to thirty-three pounds per year,
whereas the estimated production, which we have presumed to be too
large, is, in fact, too small for the number estimated as indulging
therein, as it only allows each coca masticator three pounds per annum.
In all deference to so high an authority, we will venture to suggest
that were the number indulging in coca limited to two millions, and the
supply to twenty millions of pounds, or ten pounds annually to each
person, some of these difficulties would be removed; but, out of regard
for the patience of our readers, we will forbear detailing any further
calculations, or the bases on which they rest.
At first the Spaniards strenuously opposed the use of the coca—it
was anathematized by them everywhere, as tobacco was by its zealous
opponents in the old world, but this opposition only seemed to produce
an extension of the habit. Then the Spaniards, appreciating the
advantages which might accrue to them in a monopoly of the plant, took
the culture into their own hands, and by force, enrolled the Indians of
the Cordilleras in their service, much to the discomfort of the latter,
who suffered extremely from the change of climate. Complaints to the
government being so numerous, the Viceroy, Don Francisco de Toledo,
espoused the cause of the Indians, published seventy-one decrees in
their favour, and the speculation was abandoned. It is said, that in
1583 the government of Potosi derived a sum not less than £100,000
from the consumption of 90,000 to 100,000 baskets of this leaf. The
cultivation of coca is therefore an important feature in Peruvian
husbandry, and so lucrative, that a coca plantation, whose original
cost and current expenses amounted to £500 during the first twenty
months, will, at the end of ten months more, bring a clear income of
£340.
The coca possesses a slightly aromatic and agreeable odour, and when
chewed, dispenses a grateful fragrance, its taste is moderately bitter
and astringent, and somewhat resembles green tea; it tinges the saliva
of a greenish hue. Its effects on the system are stomachic and tonic,
and it is said to be beneficial in preventing intermittents, which have
always prevailed in this country.
The mode of employing coca is to mix with it in the mouth a small
quantity of lime prepared from shells, much after the manner that
the betel is used in the East. With this, a handful of parched corn,
and a ball of arrow-root, an Indian will travel on foot a hundred
leagues, trotting on ahead of a horse. On the frequented roads, we are
informed, that the Indian guides have certain spots where they throw
out their quids, which have accumulated into little heaps, that now
serve as marks of distance; so that, instead of saying, one place is so
many leagues from another, it is common to call it so many quids. Dr.
Weddell states that the Bolivians are in the habit of using instead of
lime with their leaf, a substance called _llipta_, which consists of
the ashes of the Quinoa plant; in other parts the ashes of other plants
are used, as on the Amazon, those of the leaves of the trumpet-tree.
These alkaline ashes are made into little cakes, and sold in the
markets.
“The Peruvian ordinarily keeps his coca in a little bag called
_chuspa_, which he carries suspended at his side, and which he places
in front whenever he intends to renew his _chique_, which he does
at regular intervals, even when travelling. The Indian who prepares
himself to chew, in the first place sets himself as perfectly at ease
as circumstances permit. If he has a burden, he lays it down; he seats
himself, then putting his _chuspa_ on his knees, he draws from it,
one by one, the leaves which are to constitute his fresh ‘quid.’ The
attention which he gives to this operation is worthy of remark. The
complaisance with which the Indian buries his hand in the leaves of a
well-filled _chuspa_, the regret he seems to experience when the bag
is nearly empty, deserve observation, for these little points prove
that to the Indian the use of coca is a real source of enjoyment,
and not the simple consequence of want.” We remember an elderly
lady[31] who was in the habit of taking snuff with the same amount of
ceremony. First, she comfortably seated herself, arranged her dress,
and smoothed her apron. The most important occupations always being
for the time put aside, and apparently forgotten. The next operation
consisted in drawing from some capacious receptacle, the entrance
to which was enveloped in the folds of her outer garment, a large
brown handkerchief, studded with small yellow spots, just visible, we
remember it for years, and never any other; this was laid upon the lap
prepared to receive it. Another step consisted in drawing out from the
same mysterious receptacle, a black japanned box, circular in shape,
and of the diameter of a shaving-box, but scarce an inch in thickness;
this was carefully wiped with the handkerchief already named, and
then grasped in the left hand, resting on the palm, and pressed by the
thumb on one side, and the extremities of the fingers on the other. A
slight, but smartly repeated rap or two on the top of the box with the
knuckles of the right hand constituted the commencement of the fourth
operation, which ended by taking hold of the upper portion of the box
with the fingers of the right hand, in the same manner that the lower
was held by the left, and gently raising it obliquely, as it were,
upon a hinge, although it possessed none, and leaving it, when nearly
perpendicular, in charge of the now disengaged fore-finger and thumb of
the left hand, whilst the right hand was entirely free. How radiant was
the smile when the yellow dust filled at least a moiety of the cavity
of the opened box. How disconsolate the expression when this devout
consummation was not attained. Witness next the extended fingers, and
the adroit dexterity with which the finger and thumb collected its
accustomed dole, and conveyed it to the olfactory organs. How carefully
it was carried, first to the right nostril, and then to the left, and
with two hearty inspirations imbibed. The returning fingers now closed
the box, which received another wipe, and was then returned into the
receptacle. The fingers first, and then the nose, underwent the same
purifying process by means of the brown handkerchief. Then, although no
particle of dust could anywhere be seen, the whole frontispiece, from
the chin to the knees, underwent a regular dusting; the handkerchief
was replaced among the folds of the dress, the apron smoothed down with
both hands, a half-uttered exclamation of satisfaction, and the work
which had been temporarily laid aside was now resumed, until another
occasion of a like character should arise to demand its suspension.
But to return to coca, the effects of which are described as of the
most extraordinary nature, totally distinct from those produced by any
other known plant in any part of the world. The exciting principle
is said to be so volatile, that leaves, after being kept for twelve
months, entirely lose their power, and are good for nothing.
Large heaps of the freshly-dried leaves, particularly while the warm
rays of the sun are upon them, diffuse a very strong smell, resembling
that of hay in which there is a quantity of melilot. The natives never
permit strangers to sleep near them, as they would suffer violent
headaches in consequence. When kept in small portions, and after a few
months, the coca loses its scent, and becomes weak in proportion. The
novice thinks that the grassy smell and fresh hue are as perceptible
in the old state as when new. Without the use of lime, which always
excoriates the mouth of a stranger, the natives declare that coca has
not its true taste, a flavour which can only be detected after long
use. It then tinges green the carefully swallowed saliva, and yields
an infusion of the same colour. Of this infusion Pöppig made trial,
and found that it had a flat, grass-like taste, but he experienced the
full power of its stimulating principles. When taken in the evening,
it was followed by great restlessness, loss of sleep, and generally
uncomfortable sensations, while from its exhibition in the morning,
a similar effect, though to a slight degree arose, accompanied
with loss of appetite. Dr. Archibald Smith of Huanaco, when on one
occasion unprovided with Chinese tea, made a trial of the coca as a
substitute for it, but experienced such distressing sensations of
nervous excitement, that he never ventured to use it again. It is not
at all uncommonly used in this way; and the Indians have tea-parties
or _tertulias_, for taking the infusion of the leaves, as well as for
chewing them. Some affirm that in the coca-tea drinkings the effects
are agreeably exhilarating. It is usual to say on such occasions,
“_Vamos à coquear y acullicar_”——“Let us indulge in coca.”
Chewing the coca becomes quite a passion in those who indulge in it;
and when the habit is once commenced, it is affirmed that it is never
discontinued, and that an instance of a reclaimed _coquero_ has never
been known. To indulge in the enjoyment of this narcotic, the Peruvian
will expose himself to the greatest dangers. As its stimulus is most
fully developed when the body is exhausted with toil, or the mind with
conversation, “the victim then hastens to some retreat in a gloomy
native wood, and flinging himself under a tree, remains stretched
out there, heedless of night or of storms, unprotected by covering
or by fire, unconscious of the floods of rain, and of the tremendous
winds which sweep the forest, and after yielding himself for two or
three entire days to the occupation of chewing coca, returns home
to his abode, with trembling limbs, and a pallid countenance, the
miserable spectacle of unnatural enjoyment. Whoever accidentally meets
the coquero under such circumstances, and by speaking interrupts the
effects of this intoxication, is sure to draw upon himself the hatred
of the half-maddened creature. The man who is once seized with the
passion for this practice, if placed in circumstances which favour its
indulgence, is a ruined being. Many instances were related to Pöppig
while in Peru, where young people of the best families, by occasionally
visiting the forests, had begun using the coca for the sake of passing
the time away, and acquiring a relish for it, from that period been
lost to civilization; as if seized by some malevolent instinct, they
refused to return to their homes, and resisting the entreaties of
their friends, who occasionally discovered the haunts of these unhappy
fugitives, either retired to some distant solitude, or took the first
opportunity of escaping, when they had been brought back to the towns.”
So seductive becomes this habit, for we cannot doubt the veracity of
these statements, that neither home, nor friends, nor family, nor
society, nor fear, nor love, nor respect, nor any other creature, nor
passion, would seem to have the power of winning them back from their
monomania to a rational state of existence.
The virtues of the coca must be of the most astonishing character.
The Indians, who are addicted to its use, are declared to be thereby
enabled to withstand the toil of the mines amidst noxious metallic
exhalations without rest, food, or protection from the climate. They
run hundreds of leagues over deserts, and plains, and craggy mountains,
sustained only by the coca and a little parched corn; and often too,
acting as mules in bearing loads through passes where animals cannot
go. Some have attributed this frugality and power of endurance to
the effects of habit, and not to the use of coca; but the Indian is
naturally voracious, and it is known that many Spaniards were unable to
perform the Herculean tasks of the Peruvians until they habitually used
the coca; moreover, it is affirmed, that without it, the Indians lose
both their vigour and powers of endurance. During the siege of La Paz
in 1781, when the Spaniards were constantly on the watch, and destitute
of provisions, in the inclemencies of winter, they were saved, as
chroniclers narrate, from disease and death by resorting to this plant.
Some of those who deny many of the effects, said to be produced by
its use, admit that the coca is useful medicinally as a preservative
against the fevers which are consequent to a climate like that of Peru.
Hallucinations result from the use of the coca as from that of the
narcotic hemp, but not, as it would appear, to the same extent. The
inordinate use of this plant, as indeed of all the narcotics, seems to
be attended with fearful results. One description with which we are
acquainted, gives details of no very desirable character. It affirms
that the abuse speedily occasions bodily disease, and detriment to
the moral powers, but that still the custom may be persevered in for
many years, especially if frequently intermitted, and the coquero
sometimes attains the age of fifty with comparatively few complaints.
But the oftener the orgies are celebrated, especially in a warm and
moist climate, the sooner are their destructive effects made evident.
For this reason, the natives of the cold and dry districts of the
Andes are more addicted to the consumption of coca than those of the
close forests, where undoubtedly other stimulants do but take its
place. Weakness in the digestive organs, which, like most incurable
complaints, increases continually in a greater or less degree, first
attacks the unfortunate coquero. This complaint, which is called
“opilacion,” may be trifling at the beginning, but soon attains an
alarming height. Then come bilious obstructions, attended with all
those thousand painful symptoms which are so much aggravated by a
tropical climate, jaundice and derangement of the nervous system
follow, along with pains in the head, and such a prostration of
strength, that the patient speedily loses all appetite. The whites of
the eyes assume a leaden colour, and a total inability to sleep ensues,
which aggravates the mental depression of the unhappy individual, who,
spite of all his ills, cannot relinquish the use of the herb, to which
he owes his suffering, but craves brandy in addition. The appetite
becomes quite irregular, sometimes failing altogether, and sometimes
assuming a wolfish voracity, especially for animal food. Thus do years
of misery drag on, succeeded at length by a painful death.
This property of dispelling sleep, as a result of the inordinate use
of coca, was noticed by Weddell, as the result also of the moderate
indulgence, by way of experiment, in an infusion of the leaves, and
which led him to suppose that the chemical principle of tea, called
theine, would be found present in them. Professor Frémy analyzed them
accordingly, but found no such principle present, although an active
bitter principle was found, peculiar to this plant, the full properties
of which are still unascertained.
Coca has the reputed power of sustaining strength in the absence of
any other nutriment. The Indians declare, that when using it they
feel neither the pains of hunger nor of thirst, that they are enabled
to perform the most laborious operations with little or no food,
insensible either to cold or weariness; that by its use they can
ascend the steep passes of the Andes, carrying with them heavy loads,
and without lassitude or loss of breath. When Tschuddi was in the
Puna, he drank always before going out to hunt, a strong infusion of
coca-leaves. Then, he states, he could during the whole day climb the
heights, and follow the wild animals without experiencing any greater
difficulty of breathing than he would have felt in similar movements
along the coast. One account states, that a native, who was employed
in laborious digging for five days and nights, tasted no food during
that period, and only slept two hours each night. He regularly chewed
the coca-leaves, to the extent of about half an ounce every two or
three hours, and kept a quid of them constantly in his mouth. The work
being finished, he went a two days’ journey of twenty-three leagues
across the level heights, keeping pace with a mule, and only halting
to replenish his quid. At the end of all this labour, he was willing
to engage for the performance of as much more without food, but with a
plentiful allowance of coca. This man was sixty-two years of age, and
was never known to have been ill in his life. For this reason, that it
appears to act as a substitute for food, several learned and ingenious
authors have lamented that it has not been introduced into countries
like our own, where it would be a boon so valuable to the poor in times
of scarcity and distress.
What says science concerning this extraordinary power? One of two
things is certain: either that the coca contains some nutritive
principle which directly sustains the strength, or it does not contain
it, and, therefore, simply deceives hunger while acting on the system
as an excitement. As to the existence of a nutritive principle in coca,
although it cannot positively be denied, on account of the quantity of
nitrogen, together with assimilable carbonized products, which have
been found to exist in the leaf; yet their proportion is so small
compared with the mass, and especially with the quantity that a coquero
consumes at once, that they can scarcely be taken into consideration.
Moreover, it has also been affirmed that coca, as it is habitually
taken, does not satiate hunger. The Indians who accompany travellers,
will chew the leaves during the day, but, on the arrival of evening,
they will fill their stomachs like fasting men, devouring, at a single
meal, enough to satisfy an ordinary man for two days. The Indian of
the Cordillera is like the vulture of his mountains, when provisions
abound, he gorges himself greedily, when they are scarce, his robust
nature enables him to content himself with very little. This is
the evidence—what is the verdict? That the use of the coca assists,
perhaps, to support the abstinence; but that its action is confined
to an excitement of a peculiar kind, very different from that of the
ordinary excitants, and especially alcohol. Brandy gives strength,
but that strength is only a loan, at the expense of strength reserved
for the future. The stimulus produced by coca is slow and sustained,
in part owing to the manner of its employment, as the infusion acts
differently from the leaf as taken in the ordinary way. Tea and coffee
act specially on the brain, on which they produce an anti-soporific
effect; but while coca produces a little of this effect when taken in
large doses, it does not act perceptibly upon the brain in small doses.
To account for the ordinary effects of the leaf, one must suppose
that its action, instead of being localized, as in the case of tea
and coffee, is diffused, and bears upon the nervous system generally,
producing a sustained stimulus, calculated to impart to those under
its influence, that support which has been attributed erroneously to
peculiar nutritive properties.
Superstition and prejudice combined have, however, ennobled this plant
in the mind of the Peruvian, and he looks upon it as a true “gift
of God.” Its influences and effects are magnified in his own mind
into something miraculous, and, indeed, miraculous powers have been
attributed to it, for in what other light can we regard the belief
current amongst them, that if the miner throws the masticated leaves
upon the hard and impenetrable veins of metal, the ore will thereby
become softened and be more easily worked? or that the leaves when
placed in the mouth of a dead person, ensures it a more favourable
reception into the world of spirits? or that when a mummy is met with
disentombed from its narrow home, the presentation of a few leaves
propitiates its disengaged spirit, and is accepted as a pious offering?
Much of the fidelity of the Indian to his coca, as with the smoker to
his pipe of tobacco, is due to habit, and in this case the influence of
the habit is more powerful, inasmuch as it has been handed down through
a long line of ancestors, and is almost the only one which has been
preserved. Finally, he finds in its use a distraction, and the only
one, which breaks the monotony of his existence. The Peruvian Indians
are of a gloomy temperament, and subject to fits of melancholy. When
not engaged in out-door work, they will sit in their huts chewing coca
and brooding gloomily over their own thoughts; indeed, the combined
testimony of travellers establish the fact, that there is in their
features an expression of concentrated melancholy, which seems to
speak of an undefined but constant suffering; we cannot be astonished
at finding such people seeking for comfort in the best substitute for
opium that their country will furnish.
Coca appears to enjoy an undisputed reign in the Cordilleras; no other
narcotic starts up to share the throne, and this is almost the only
one which has not been imitated, or for which some substitute has not
either been proposed or used. The antipodes, or nearly so, of this
country possesses a plant, which, had it grown freely in other parts of
the world might have been heard of more extensively as an indulgence.
In Siberia, however, there seems to be little use made of the small
indigenous rhododendron, which claims to be one of the most powerful
narcotics in the world. Steller, the Russian botanist, had a tame deer
which became so intoxicated by browsing on about ten of its leaves,
that, after staggering about for some time, it dropped into a deep but
troubled sleep for four hours, after which it awoke, apparently free
from pain, but would never touch the leaves again. Steller’s servants,
after this, took to intoxicating themselves with the leaves without any
evil effects. We have also been informed that certain of the Russians
have been charged with the habit of following the example of these
experimentalists, by getting drunk upon the leaves, which have been
used in infusion, as Pallas states, with good effect in the cure of
chronic rheumatism. The flowers of another species of rhododendron are
eaten as a narcotic by the Hill people of India, but in these instances
the extent of their use is so small, and the persons indulging in them
so few, that no claim can be set up for them, except as minor narcotics
occasionally employed, when the other and more important substances
cannot readily be obtained.
For the basis of much which this chapter contains, we are indebted
to the Travels in Bolivia and Peru of that worthy trio of doctors,
Pöppig, Weddell, and Tschuddi, besides three times as many more, less
noted and less known, but whose information was not less to be relied
upon on the points concerning which they have spoken. Whether the
votaries of our Lady of Yongas are as numerous as has been asserted,
or only of the number we have suggested—whether the influence of
this plant over the stomachic regions is sufficient to subdue the
pangs of hunger, or allay the cruelties of thirst, or these are only
effects due to the imagination—whether it has the marvellous power of
softening the adamantine rock, or strengthening and supporting the
lungs in the ascent of Andean summits, or whether these, and all of
these, are fictions proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain, it is,
nevertheless, certain, that a great amount of interest gathers around
this plant, which associates itself so intimately with the country in
which it flourishes, that, as for centuries past, so for centuries to
come, coca will remain the characteristic plant of the Peruvian nation,
as tea was, and is, of the Chinese.