One of the most important as well as useful plants of Peru, and with samples of which I provided myself on leaving Peru, for the purpose of future analysis, is the Coca (Erythroxylon Coca), the leaves of which mixed with chalk or ashes of plants, form so important an article of diet as well as a masticatory among some Indian races of Peru and Bolivia.
Before I left Europe one of our most celebrated German pharmacologists, M. Wöhler of Göttingen, expressed to me his wish to procure a considerable quantity of coca leaves, to enable him to analyze more completely than had as yet been done the chemical constituents of this remarkable plant, and I therefore made it a duty to take measures for procuring the requisite supply. Although the wonderful stimulant properties of the coca had for more than half a century been known to European travellers, the leaves of the plant, which flourishes best on the eastern slopes of the Cordilleras of Peru and Bolivia, at an elevation of about 8000 feet, and a temperature of from 64°.4 to 68° Fahr., have hitherto only reached Europe in very small quantities, having in fact been carried home simply as curiosities. It was reserved for one of the Novara expedition to bring over as much as 60 lbs. weight for the purpose of investigation of its properties by German men of science. Half of this quantity I took to Europe among my own effects; the remainder was forwarded somewhat later, through the kindness of two German gentlemen resident in Lima, Messrs. C. Eggert and N. Linnich.
So many, and in the main correct, accounts[142] have been published by travellers of the coca plant, its culture, its effect
upon the system, and the marvels that have been achieved by its use, that I may well be excused from dwelling at length upon the habit which prevails among the Indians of chewing coca, or on its importance as a chief article of subsistence for several millions of our fellow-creatures. I may, however, mention certain instances which came within my own personal knowledge, as also a few statistical data relating to the annual consumption of coca in Peru and Bolivia, and the economical importance of this cultivation.
A Scotchman named Campbell, who was settled as a merchant at Tacna in Bolivia, and with whom I travelled to Europe from Lima, informed me that a few years before, being engaged upon matters of urgent business, he had performed in one day a distance of 90 English miles on mule-back, and throughout that long distance had been accompanied by an Aymara Indian, who kept up easily with the mule, without other refreshment than a few grains of roasted maize and coca leaves, which, mingled with undissolved chalk, he chewed incessantly. On reaching the station where he was to pass the night, Mr. Campbell, though mounted on an excellent animal, found himself greatly fatigued; the guide, on the other hand, after he had stood on his head for a few minutes,[143] and had drank a glass of brandy, set off without further delay on his homeward journey!!
In April, 1859, Mr. Campbell despatched a native from La Paz to Tacna, a distance of 249 English miles, which the Indian accomplished in four days. He rested one day at Tacna, and set off the following morning on his return journey, in the course of which he had to cross a pass 13,000 feet in height. It would seem that throughout the whole of this immense journey on foot, he followed the Indian custom of taking no other sustenance than a little roasted maize and coca leaves, which he carried in a little pouch at his side, and chewed from time to time.[144]
Like other experienced travellers, Mr. Campbell, who has lived over 14 years in Bolivia, is of opinion that a moderate use of coca exercises no prejudicial influence upon the general health, but simply tends to make the Indian races of the higher regions of the Andes more capable of continued laborious work. Many coca-chewers attain a great age, and Mr. Campbell knew one such, who had taken part in the insurrection of Tupac-Amaru in 1781, and at the time of my visit, 1859, was still in full possession of all his faculties. In short, as in the case of opium and wine, it would seem that it is only the abuse of coca that is followed by evil consequences.
The coca is less cultivated in Peru than in Bolivia, and the leaves are not in such request among the Quichua as
among the Aymara Indians.[145] As the Government of Bolivia draws a very handsome revenue from coca cultivation, a tax of five reals, about one shilling, being levied on every cesto, or about 25 lbs. English, there is a better opportunity of getting at the correct amount of the entire production than in Peru, where the plant is grown free of duty. The coca tax realizes in all in Bolivia 300,000 pesos or dollars (about £75,000), so that the entire annual product is about 480,000 cestos or 1,200,000 lbs. The cesto is worth at La Paz from 7 to 9 pesos, but when employed in large quantities for export, it cost about 10 dollars, placed on board ship. Altogether the coca crop of Bolivia may reasonably be estimated at rather less than 700,000 cestos, equal to about 78,000 tons.