“Its use for many purposes is common among the Indians, for it is a necessary to them when on a journey, and they also use it when in their homes for their enjoyment, and in this manner—they burn the shells of oysters and other shells, and thus make the lime into a powder, then they grind up the Coca leaves with their teeth, this they mix with the powder of the burnt shells, and thus mingle both at once, but the quantity of lime, however, must be less than the amount of leaf; from this mass they prepare small balls or lozenges, and expose them to dry.
“When they require to use these, they take one little ball into the mouth, and suck it, turning it now this way now that way as long as they can retain it; one being consumed, they take another, and then a third, proceeding thus the whole time they have need during their long journeys, especially if they are in neighbourhoods where neither bread nor water are plentiful, because they assert that by this suction of these little balls their thirst is removed, and their strength preserved.
“If, on the other hand, they desire to use the Coca for the sake of enjoyment, they use it alone, turning it over and over in the mouth, until all its properties are exhausted, then they take more. But, if their purpose is to be inebriated, or to be taken to some extent out of themselves as if by mental alienation, they mix the leaves of Coca with those of Tobacco, and chew and suck them simultaneously; by this means they find themselves with their reason lost to them, and are like drunken men, and they experience thence very great pleasure. Wonder at this matter is not wanting, when these Indians are observed to be in this state of delight and deprivation of mind and sense, for they do indeed use Tobacco and Coca together for this purpose, or even Tobacco alone, as we describe in the second volume of this history.”
Augostin de Zarate[4] says:—
“In certain valleys, among the mountains, the heat is marvellous, and there groweth a certain herb called Coca, which the Indians do esteem more than gold or silver; the leaves thereof are like unto Zumake (sumach), the virtue of this herb found by experience is that any man having these leaves in his mouth hath never hunger nor thirst.”
Joseph Acosta,[5] the Jesuit, describes the use of Coca by the natives of Peru, and says:—
“For my part, and to say the truth, I am persuaded that it is not pure imagination; but, on the contrary, I hold that it gives strength and courage to the Indians; for one sees the effect of it, which cannot be attributed to imagination, as in travelling without food during many days with a handful of Coca and other similar agents.”
CHAPTER II.
SUPERSTITIONS IN REGARD TO COCA.
The employment of Coca as a masticatory goes back to the time of the first Incas, being used in their religious rites as an offering to the sun; the sacrificing priest never consulted the oracles without holding some Coca leaves in his mouth, and throwing some into the fire which consumed the victims. It was reserved for this use, and for that of the monarch and those who for services rendered had become worthy of the honour of partaking of it with their sovereign.
Von Tschudi[6] says:—“By the Peruvian Indians the Coca plant is regarded as something sacred and mysterious, and it sustained an important part in the religion of the Incas. In all ceremonies, whether religious or warlike, it was introduced for producing smoke at the great offerings, or as the sacrifice itself.”