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.”
CHAPTER IV.
ACCOUNTS OF MODERN TRAVELLERS.
All the mountain Indians,[10] Von Tschudi states, are addicted more or less to the practice of masticating Coca. Each man consumes, on an average, between an ounce and an ounce and a half per day, and on festival days about double that quantity. The owners of mines and plantations allow their labourers to suspend their work three times a day for the chacchar or masticating operation, which usually occupies upwards of a quarter of an hour; and after that they smoke a paper cigar, which they allege crowns the zest of the Coca mastication. The Coca leaves, he says, are taken deliberately one by one, stillness and repose being indispensable to their full enjoyment. No urging of the traveller will interrupt the Indian in this meal,—the servant would leave his master if prohibited the use of Coca—he would rather miss food. In a state of silent abstraction the leaves are first masticated into a small ball or acullico, a thin slip of damp wood is then thrust into the ishcupuru or gourd, containing lime, and when drawn out, some portion of the powder it contains adheres. The acullico, or ball of masticated Coca leaves is, whilst still lying in the mouth, punctured with this slip of wood, until the lime mixing with it (setting free its alkaloid), gives it a proper relish, and the abundant flow of saliva thus excited is partly expectorated (? see Weddell, p. 19) and partly swallowed. When the ball ceases to emit juice, it is thrown away, and a new one is formed by the mastication of a fresh mouthful of Coca leaves. In Cerro de Pasco, and in places still farther south, the Indians use instead of unslaked lime a preparation of the pungent ashes of the Quinoa (Chenopodium Quinoa, L). This preparation is called Llucta or Llipta. In using it a piece is broken off and masticated along with the acullico. In some regions the Llipta is made from the musa root.