ay here subjoin
some notice of this highly interesting plant.

The coca (_Erythroxylon coca_, Lam.) is a shrub about six feet in
height, with bright green leaves and white blossoms. The latter are
succeeded by small scarlet berries. It is raised from the seed, in
garden-beds called _almazigas_. When the young shoots are one and a half
or two feet high, they are removed to regularly laid out coca fields
(_cocales_), where they are planted at the distance of about three spans
from each other. The coca requires humidity; therefore, during the first
year or two after it is planted in the fields, maize is sown between the
_matas_, or young shoots, to screen them from the too great influence of
the sun. When the leaves are ripe, that is to say, when on being bent
they crack or break off, the gathering commences. The leaves are
stripped from the branches, a task usually performed by women, and it
requires great care lest the tender leaves and young twigs should be
injured. In some districts, the Indians are so very careful in
gathering the coca, that, instead of stripping off the leaves, they cut
them from the stem by making an incision with their nails. The plant
thus rendered leafless is soon again overgrown with verdant foliage.
After being gathered, the leaves are spread out on coarse woollen cloths
and dried in the sun. The color of the leaves when dried is a pale
green. The drying is an operation which likewise demands great care
and attention, for if the leaves imbibe damp, they become dark
colored, and then they sell for a much lower price than when they are
green. The dry coca is finely packed in woollen sacks, and covered
with sand. These sacks are of various sizes and colors, in different
parts of the Montanas. In Huanuco they are grey or black, and when
filled weigh from 75 to 80 pounds. In Vitoc they are grey and white,
and contain 150 pounds. In Huanta and Anco they are small in size, and
black or brown in color, and contain merely one aroba. In the Montanas
of Urubamba, Calca, and Paucartambo, the coca leaves are put into
small baskets called _cestos_, and covered with sand. Great care is
also requisite in the carriage of the coca, for if damp be allowed to
penetrate the sack, the leaves become hot, or as the natives express
it, _Se calientan_, and are thereby rendered useless.

The Indians masticate the coca. Each individual carries a leathern
pouch, called the _huallqui_, or the _chuspa_, and a small flask go