CHAPTER III

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COCA IN LITERATURE.

Coca has not been official in any but the last Codex, and last United States, British, Austrian, Belgian, and Chilian Pharmacopœias, and although mentioned by Guibourt and tried by Sir Robert Christison upon himself (see p. 53), it is not mentioned by such pharmacologists as Quincy, Pereira, or Hanbury. As a theme for the poet, Milton, who drew many of his similes from tropical plants and scenery, appears not to have known of it, as he does not mention it. Abraham Cowley, later, in his Book V. of Plants, makes Bacchus fill Omelichilus[8] “a bowl with juice from grape,” but

[Footnote 8: “An American Godling;” the names of others follow.]

“He unaccustom’d to the acid juice Storm’d and with blows had answer’d the abuse, But fear’d t’engage the _European_ Guest, Whose Strength and Courage had subdu’d the _East_. He therefore chooses a less dang’rous Fray, And summons all his Country’s Plants away: Forthwith in decent Order they appear, And various Fruits on various Branches wear. Like _Amazons_ they stand in painted Arms, _Coca_ alone appeared with little Charms, Yet led the Van, our scoffing Venus scorn’d The shrub-like tree, and with no Fruit adorn’d, The _Indian_ Plants, said she, are like to speed In this dispute of the most fertile Breed, Who choose a _Dwarf_ and Eunuch for their head; Our Gods laugh’d out aloud at what she said, Pachamama defends her darling Tree, And said the wanton Goddess was too free; You only know the fruitfulness of Lust, And therefore here your judgment is unjust, Your skill in other off-springs we may trust, With those Chast tribes that no distinction know Of Sex, your Province nothing has to do. Of all the Plants that any soil does bear, This Tree in Fruits the richest does appear, It bears the best, and bears ’em all the year. Ev’n now with Fruits ’tis stored—why laugh you yet Behold how thick with Leaves it is beset, Each Leaf is Fruit, and such substantial fare, No Fruit beside to rival it will dare. Mov’d with his Country’s coming Fate (whose Soil Must for her Treasures be exposed to spoil) Our _Varicocha_ first this _Coca_ sent, Endow’d with Leaves of wond’rous Nourishment, Whose Juice Succ’d in, and to the Stomach tak’n Long Hunger and long Labour can sustain; From which our faint and weary Bodies find More Succour, more they cheer the drooping Mind, Than can your _Bacchus_ and your _Ceres_ joined. Three Leaves supply for six days’ march afford. The _Quitoita_ with this Provision stor’d Can pass the vast and cloudy Andes o’er. The dreadful _Andes_ plac’d ’twixt Winter’s store Of Winds, Rains, Snow, and that more humble Earth, That gave the small but valiant _Coca_ Birth; This Champion that makes warlike _Venus_ Mirth. Nor _Coca_ only useful art at home, A famous Merchandize thou art become; A thousand _Paci_ and _Vicugni_ groan, Yearly beneath thy Loads, and for thy Sake alone The spacious World’s to us by Commerce known. Thus spake the Goddess, (on her painted Skin Were figures wrought) and next calls _Hovia_[9] in, That for its stony Fruit may be despis’d, But for its Virtue next to _Coca_ priz’d Her shade by wondrous Influence can compose, And lock the Senses in such sweet Repose, That oft the Natives of a distant Soil Long Journeys take of voluntary Toil, Only to sleep beneath her Branches’ shade: Where in transporting Dreams entranc’d they lye, And quite forget the _Spaniards’_ Tyranny.”

[Footnote 9: I have not been able to identify this plant; if intended to be anything more than a creature of the poet’s imagination, it probably yielded a sedative drug known two centuries ago, which is now lost to us.]

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