COCA AND COCAINE.CHAPTER I.EARLY HISTORY.
COCA AND COCAINE.
The earliest accounts extant of Coca are contained in the writings of the historians who treat of the Spanish conquests in South America in the sixteenth century, and of Spanish travellers and Jesuit missionaries who followed in their wake.
Pedro de Cieza de Leon thus writes,[2](A.D.1532 to 1550):—
“I have observed in all parts of theWest Indies, where I have been, that the natives delight in holding herbs, roots, or twigs of trees in their mouths. Thus, in the territory ofAntiocha, they use a small Herb calledCoca, and other sorts in the province ofArma. In those ofQuimbayaandAnzerma, they cut twigs off a sort of tender middling trees, which are always green, wherewith they are incessantly rubbing their teeth. In most parts aboutCaliandPopayan, they hold in their mouths the aforesaid smallCoca, with a composition they keep in little calabashes, or else a sort of earth, like lime. Throughout allPeru, from the time they rise in the morning till they go to bed at night, they are never without thisCocain their mouths. The reason someIndians, to whom I put the question, gave me for so doing, was, that it made them insensible of hunger, and added to their strength and vigour. Something there may be in it, yet I am rather of opinion it is only an ill habit, and fit for such people as they are.“ThisCocais planted on the MountainsAndes, fromGuamanga, to the town ofLa Plata, where it grows up to little trees, which they cherish and nurse up carefully, that they may bear those leaves, resembling our Myrtle. They dry them in the sun, and then lay them in long narrow baskets, each of them holding about a quarter of a hundredweight. So highly was this Coca valued in Peru, in the years 1548, ’49, ’50, and ’51, that I believe no plant in the world, except Spice, could equal it; for at that time most of the plantations aboutCuzco,La Paz, andLa Platayielded some 80, some 60, some 40,000 pieces-of-eight a year, more or less, and all inCoca; and whoever had lands assigned him first reckoned how many baskets ofCocathey yielded. In fine, it was more esteemed than the best wheat. They carried it to sell at the mines ofPotosi; and so many fell to planting, that it is now much fallen in the price, but will always be valued. SeveralSpaniardsgot estates by buying and selling ofCoca, or bartering for it in the Indian markets.”
“I have observed in all parts of theWest Indies, where I have been, that the natives delight in holding herbs, roots, or twigs of trees in their mouths. Thus, in the territory ofAntiocha, they use a small Herb calledCoca, and other sorts in the province ofArma. In those ofQuimbayaandAnzerma, they cut twigs off a sort of tender middling trees, which are always green, wherewith they are incessantly rubbing their teeth. In most parts aboutCaliandPopayan, they hold in their mouths the aforesaid smallCoca, with a composition they keep in little calabashes, or else a sort of earth, like lime. Throughout allPeru, from the time they rise in the morning till they go to bed at night, they are never without thisCocain their mouths. The reason someIndians, to whom I put the question, gave me for so doing, was, that it made them insensible of hunger, and added to their strength and vigour. Something there may be in it, yet I am rather of opinion it is only an ill habit, and fit for such people as they are.
“ThisCocais planted on the MountainsAndes, fromGuamanga, to the town ofLa Plata, where it grows up to little trees, which they cherish and nurse up carefully, that they may bear those leaves, resembling our Myrtle. They dry them in the sun, and then lay them in long narrow baskets, each of them holding about a quarter of a hundredweight. So highly was this Coca valued in Peru, in the years 1548, ’49, ’50, and ’51, that I believe no plant in the world, except Spice, could equal it; for at that time most of the plantations aboutCuzco,La Paz, andLa Platayielded some 80, some 60, some 40,000 pieces-of-eight a year, more or less, and all inCoca; and whoever had lands assigned him first reckoned how many baskets ofCocathey yielded. In fine, it was more esteemed than the best wheat. They carried it to sell at the mines ofPotosi; and so many fell to planting, that it is now much fallen in the price, but will always be valued. SeveralSpaniardsgot estates by buying and selling ofCoca, or bartering for it in the Indian markets.”
Nicholas Monardes,[3]a Spanish physician of the sixteenth century, also quotes Pedro de Cieza de Leon more fully from his Commentaries “on Peruvian Things” under the heading of Betre (Betel), “History of Aromatics,” book i., with annotations:—
“This plant Coca has been celebrated for many years among the Indians, and they sow and cultivate it with much care and industry, because they all apply it daily to their use and pleasure.“It is indeed of the height of two outstretched arms; its leaves somewhat like those of Myrtle, but larger and more succulent, and green (and they have, as it were, drawn in the middle of them another leaf of similar shape); its fruit collected together in a cluster, which like Myrtle fruit becomes red when ripening, and of thesame size, and when quite ripe it is black in colour. When the time of the harvest of the leaves arrives, they are collected in baskets with other things to make them dry, that they may be better preserved, and may be carried to other places. For from their native mountains they are carried to other mountainous parts for the sake of trade, and are exchanged for other goods, such as clothes and flocks, salt and other articles, which stand to these people in the position of money. The seed is enclosed in mastiche, and removed from thence is sown elsewhere in well-cultivated earth in drills or rows, just as we sow the pea or the bean.“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 drunkenmen, 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.”
“This plant Coca has been celebrated for many years among the Indians, and they sow and cultivate it with much care and industry, because they all apply it daily to their use and pleasure.
“It is indeed of the height of two outstretched arms; its leaves somewhat like those of Myrtle, but larger and more succulent, and green (and they have, as it were, drawn in the middle of them another leaf of similar shape); its fruit collected together in a cluster, which like Myrtle fruit becomes red when ripening, and of thesame size, and when quite ripe it is black in colour. When the time of the harvest of the leaves arrives, they are collected in baskets with other things to make them dry, that they may be better preserved, and may be carried to other places. For from their native mountains they are carried to other mountainous parts for the sake of trade, and are exchanged for other goods, such as clothes and flocks, salt and other articles, which stand to these people in the position of money. The seed is enclosed in mastiche, and removed from thence is sown elsewhere in well-cultivated earth in drills or rows, just as we sow the pea or the bean.
“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 drunkenmen, 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.”
“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.”
“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.”