CHAPTER V

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DR. WEDDELL’S ACCOUNT.[13]

“The cultivation of _Erythoxylon Coca_, as carried on in Bolivia in the present day, does not appear to differ from that which prevailed previous to the conquest; and the province of Yungas de la Paz is that which, since the Spanish occupation, seems to have supported the most considerable plantations. All the slopes of the mountains, below an elevation of 2,200 mètres [7,217 feet], are literally covered with them, and the traveller has continually in view the factories or _haciendas_ where the leaf is prepared for the purposes of trade.

[Footnote 13: _Pharm. Journ._ 1854, pp. 162-4, 213-5, translated from Dr. Weddell’s “Voyage dans le nord de la Bolivie.” Paris: 1853, 8vo. ch. xxix.]

“The _Coca_ shrub is propagated from seed. For this purpose the seeds, immediately after gathering, are scattered on the surface of the light and frequently watered soil of a little nursery (_almaciga_), where they come up generally at the end of ten or fifteen days. The waterings are continued, and should the sun strike the young plants too violently, they are sheltered with mats.

“The following year the shrubs, whose height is already from 40 to 50 centimètres [16 to 20 inches] are transplanted into a plot of ground specially prepared for them and called a _cocal_. The arrangement of these plantations is much more complicated than that of an ordinary plantation, and varies according to the inclination of the surface. When the _cocal_ occupies the slope of a mountain, which is the usual case, the cultivator forms a series of narrow steps, each intended for a single row of shrubs, and the more elevated (consequently the less numerous) as the surface is more steep. They are generally supported by little stone walls, which serve not merely to contain the earth and prevent its drying, but also to protect the stem and roots of the young shrubs from the too direct influence of the solar rays, by means of the projection which they form above the level of the soil.

“Where the ground is level, they make, instead of steps or terraces, simple furrows (_uachos_) in a straight line, and separated from one another by little walls of well-moulded earth, called _umachas_, at the foot of each of which is planted a row of the shrubs, more or less far apart from each other.

“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 are cited of _Coca_ plantations which have existed for nearly a century, and which still produce. Nevertheless, the greatest abundance of leaves is obtained from plants of from three to six years of age. When the trees run up too much, the produce is less than when they spread; they are therefore pruned in some cases to favour an increase in breadth, which, however, is never considerable, as the form of the shrub is irregular. The average height of the wild plant appears to be about 2 mètres, but in cultivation it is generally allowed to attain but 1 mètre [39 inches].

“The first gathering which takes place in a Coca plantation is at the expense of only the lower leaves of the shrubs, and it is therefore called _quita calzon_.[14] The leaves of which this gathering consists are larger and more coriaceous than those of subsequent collections, and also have less flavour. They are mostly consumed on the spot. All the other gatherings go by the name of _mitas_, and take place three times, or exceptionally, four times per annum. The most abundant harvest is that occurring in March—that is, immediately after the rains; this is the _mita de marzo_. The most scanty is that which takes place at the end of June or beginning of July, and which is called _mita de San Juan_. The third, named _mita de Santos_, is made in October or November.

[Footnote 14: From _quitar_, to take away, and _calzon_, pantaloon.]

“The watering of the Coca plantations greatly increases their productiveness. Forty days are then sufficient, I have been told, for naked shrubs to become covered with new leaves; but these leaves are not equal in their properties to those produced without irrigation; their colour also is less deep, and they frequently blacken in drying. Artificial watering is needful, moreover, only during the dry season, and the cultivators who have the means of employing it realise nearly always four, and sometimes even five, crops in the year. This is

## particularly the case in the districts of Irupana, where there are

facilities for obtaining water that do not exist elsewhere.

“I have examined the soil in which _Coca_ is cultivated, and almost everywhere have found it composed of sandy, argillaceous earth, softish to the touch; it originates in the decay of the schists which form the chief geological feature of these mountains. The soil of the Coca plantation is, in one word, formed of what we call primitive or normal earth, but it is naturally mixed with an abundance of angular fragments of unaltered schist which, if not removed, would interfere with the growth of the roots. This is therefore done by the cultivator while preparing the furrows for the reception of the shrubs, the stones being employed for the little walls before spoken of; indeed, these little walls, or _umachas_, are often formed entirely of the stones thus met with. I need hardly say that it is to the greater or less perfection to which this preliminary operation is carried, and to the labours incurred subsequently in stirring up the soil from time to time, and in keeping it free from weeds, that the _haciendero_ owes the abundance of his crops. The 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 _Erythroxylon_ 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, holding with one hand the branch she wishes to pluck, removes with the other all the leaves, often one by one. The leaves are deposited in a cloth, which each Indian carries with her, and afterwards 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 without 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 _cesto_, whose price at La Paz varies from 4½ to 6 piastres” (18s. to 24s.).[15]

[Footnote 15: “As it is easily damaged by damp in transit, the only absolute security is to have it soldered in tin or zinc, enclosed in wood; such packages generally contain two tambores, or about a Spanish quintal of 100 pounds. Although shipped from many ports along the whole coast, the principal port in Peru seems to be Salaverry, the port of entry to Truxillo, and the principal port for Bolivia is Arica, Mollendo being now closed by the civil war in Peru.”—Squibb’s Ephemeris, ii. 792.]

“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 _acullicar_, _i.e._ 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, as I shall have occasion to repeat further on, that to the Indian the use of Coca is a real source of enjoyment and not the simple consequence of want.

“As the Indian deposits the leaves in his mouth he wets them by turning them over with the tongue, forming them into a sort of little ball, which he places against the cheek as a sailor does his tobacco. This done, he takes from his _chuspa_ a little box which generally accompanies the Coca, and removes from it a very small quantity of an alkaline paste, called _llipta_, which is the ordinary condiment to the leaf. The _llipta_ which the Peruvians, and especially the Bolivians, are in the habit of using, is made of the ashes of the Quinoa (_Chenopodium Quinoa_) or of those of the common _Cereus_. The ashes of several other plants, however, are used for the same purpose, they are often sold in the markets in the form of little flat cakes. In some parts of America lime is substituted for them.

“From the constancy with which the Indians employ an alkali with the Coca, one might presume that it favours the solution of the active matter of the leaf; but on this head we know nothing positive. Others have said that the _llipta_ was intended to neutralise the acid of the leaf; but it is easy to convince oneself that the Coca contains no principle of this nature in appreciable quantity.

“The leaves of the _Erythroxylon_ approach in shape and size those of tea, but they have never the dentated margin; on the under side, a prominent and curved line on each side of the midrib serves to distinguish them from most other leaves known. When dried well, they are of a very pale green, deeper on the upper than on the under side; their odour is then agreeable, and even analogous to that of tea. When, on the contrary, the Coca has been dried less perfectly, this agreeable aroma is hardly perceptible, or rather is overpowered by a pungent odour, _sui generis_, recalling the abominable smell exhaled by the breath of the masticators of Coca, which is, in fact, this odour in a concentrated state. This _bouquet_, if I may so term it, is very perceptible on tasting the Coca, and serves, according to its abundance, in indicating its quality. On the other hand, in a concentrated infusion, and still more so in a decoction, it is a bitterness mixed with something styptic that more particularly strikes the palate.

“As to the immediate physiological effects of this infusion, frequently-repeated trials enable me to assert that they are in general limited to a slight excitement, succeeded in most cases by some degree of sleeplessness.

“The questions relative to the effects resulting from the use of Coca are less easily determined; we may begin, nevertheless, by stating that an immense majority of authors, both ancient and modern, who have written on the subject, have agreed in attributing to the Coca-leaf thus employed, virtues whose well-ascertained existence would warrant it being placed among the more beneficial products of the vegetable kingdom; and such would doubtless remain the admitted opinion, had not a modern traveller (Pöppig) completely shaken it by supporting an opposite view, that is to say, in attributing to Coca very pernicious effects, comparable, in fact, to those brought about by the excessive use of opium.

“Such assertions, in the presence of reports so opposite as those I have cited, may well cause some astonishment. Individuals are, however, not wanting, who give us to understand that, if this traveller had not trusted too implicitly to the accounts of ill-informed persons, he had erred, at least, in too much generalising exceptional facts. For my part, I may say, that the researches that I have been able to make on the subject, in localities where the Coca is most in use, have shown me that the mastication of the leaf does sometimes produce evil consequences among Europeans who have not accustomed themselves to it from youth; and, in two or three cases, I have thought I could attribute to the abuse of this practice a peculiar aberration of the intellectual faculties indicated by hallucinations. But, in the countries which I have visited, on no occasion have I seen the results to reach the point instanced by M. Pöppig.

“Let us now examine what are the beneficial properties attributable to Coca. Of these the most remarkable is undeniably its reputed power of sustaining the strength in the absence of any other nutriment. The facts on which this opinion rests have been asserted by so many credible persons, that scepticism must be carried very far to throw over it a doubt; it appears to me, however, that opinions may vary according to the interpretation of the same facts.

“One of two things is certain, either 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, I am far from wishing to deny it; analysis, indeed, shows the existence in the leaf, and especially in its active principle, of a notable quantity of nitrogen together with assimilable carbonised products; but the proportion of these substances is so small compared with the total mass of the leaf, and especially with the quantity of it that the Indian consumes in a given time, that they can hardly be taken into consideration. Moreover, I can affirm very positively that Coca, as it is taken habitually, does _not_ satiate hunger. This is a fact of which I have convinced myself by daily experience. The Indians who accompanied me on my journey chewed Coca during the whole day; but, evening arrived, they filled their stomachs like fasting men, and I am certain I have seen one devour as much food at a single meal as I should have consumed during 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. The use of Coca assists, it may be, to support the abstinence; but we must have cases far more conclusive than those which I have witnessed to convince me that it plays a part more important than that which I attribute to it. I will, however, add to what I have before said of the _llipta_, that this alkaline substance may also contribute, by its direct influence on the secretions of the stomach, to allay the requirements of that organ.

“The action of Coca is then, in my opinion, confined to an excitement, but an excitement of a peculiar kind, which I consider as very different from that resulting from the use of most of the ordinary excitants, and especially of alcohol. Brandy gives strength, as all know; but who does not know also that the ‘gift’ is but a _loan_ made out at the expense of strength reserved for the future? The action of this agent, though powerful, is transient. The stimulus produced by mastication of the leaf of the _Erythroxylon_ is, on the contrary, slow and sustained, characters which it owes, doubtless, in great part to the manner of its employment, since an infusion of Coca acts very differently from the leaf taken in the ordinary way. It will be said that tea and coffee, whose effects appear to have more analogy with those of Coca, would perhaps produce analogous results if taken in the same manner. I do not believe such would be the case. Tea and coffee (coffee in particular) act specially on the brain, on which they produce an antisoporific effect, but too well known to those who are not in their habitual use. But Coca, while producing a little of this effect, when taken in large doses, as I have often experienced in my own person, does not act perceptibly upon the brain in small doses. To account for the ordinary effects of the leaf, one must then suppose that its action, instead of being localised, as in the case of tea and coffee, is diffused, and bears upon the nervous system generally, producing upon it a sustained stimulus, well suited to impart to those who are under its influence that support which has been erroneously attributed to peculiar nutritive properties.

“Finally, I think that in the fidelity of the Indian to the use of Coca, as with some smokers and their pipes, much is due to habit; and it is, I think, essential not to lose sight of the fact, that the force of habit must have an influence all the more powerful, since the habit in question is almost the only one he retains of past times, and that now, as then, he attaches to the use of the Coca-leaf superstitious ideas, which, to his imagination, must at least treble the greatness of the benefits he derives from it. Lastly, that in the mastication of Coca he finds the sole distraction that breaks the incomparable monotony of his existence.”

Dr. Weddell supposes that the word _Coca_ comes from the Aymara (Indian) _Khoka_, signifying _the tree_ or _plant_, just as the shrub producing Paraguay Tea (_Ilex Paraguayensis_) is called _la Yerba_, i.e., _the plant_. Botanical specimens were first sent by Joseph de Jussieu to his brother in 1750; these Antoine Laurent de Jussieu referred to the genus _Erythroxylon_, and finally they served as types for Lamarck to give the plant his designation, _Erythroxylon Coca_, in the _Encyclopédie Méthodique_.

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