which a row of plants is placed; but this is a modern, innovation, the terrace cultivation being the most ancient. At the end of eighteen months the plants yield their first harvest, and continue to yield for upwards of forty years. The first harvest is called quita calzon, and the leaves are then picked very carefully, one by one, to avoid disturbing the roots of the young tender plants. The following harvests are called mitta ("time" or "season"), and take place three and even four times in the year. The most abundant harvest takes place in March, immediately after the rains; the worst, at the end of June, called the Mitta de San Juan The third, called Mitta de Santos, is in October or November. With plenty of watering, forty days suffice to cover the plants with leaves afresh. It is necessary to weed the ground very carefully, especially while the plants are young, and the harvest is gathered by women and children.

The green leaves, called matu, are deposited in a piece of cloth which each picker carries, and are then spread out in the drying yard, called matu-caucha, and carefully dried in the sun. The dried leaf is called Coca. The drying yard is formed of slate flags, called pizarra; and when the leaves are thoroughly dry, they are sewn up in cestos, or sacks, made of banana leaves, of 20 lbs. each, strengthened by an exterior covering of bayeta, or cloth. They are also packed in tambores of 50 lbs. each, pressed tightly down. Dr. Poeppig (writing in 1827-32) reckoned the profits of a Coca farm to be forty-five per cent.

1 In 1861, the cesto of Coca sold at 8 dollars in Sandia. In Huanaco it was 5 dollars the aroba of 25 lbs.

The harvest is greatest in a hot moist situation; but the leaf generally considered the best flavoured by consumers, grows in drier parts, on the sides of hills. The greatest care is required in the drying; for too much sun causes the leaves to dry up and lose their flavour, while, if packed up moist, they become fetid. They are generally exposed to the sun in thin layers.

The approximate annual produce of Coca in Peru is about 15,000,000 lbs., the average yield being about 800 lbs. an acre. More than 10,000,000 lbs. are produced annually in Bolivia, according to Dr. Booth of La Paz; so that the annual yield of Coca throughout South America, including Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Pasto, may be estimated at more than 30,000,000 lbs. At Tacna, the tambor of 50 lbs. is worth 9 to 12 dollars, the fluctuations in price being caused by the perishable nature of the article, which cannot be kept in stock for any length of time. The average duration of Coca in a sound state, on the coast, is about five months, after which time it is said to lose flavour, and is rejected by the Indians as worthless.

Cuca leaves can be bought in London, but up to the present time it has not come into much use as a beverage, yet it is supplied in Roots' Cuca Cocoa, which is a combination of Cuca leaves, and the Cocoa bean.

There is no doubt whatever in Cuca possessing the qualities ascribed to it, and its application in medicine for many "ills that man is heir to," is being diligently pursued by physicians all over the civilized world, with very beneficial results, and it is a valuable

addition to our pharmacopoeia.

Johnston, in The

Chemistry of Common Life,' speaking of the general effects of the Coca leaf, says that it "acts differently according to the way in which it is used. When in

fused, and drunk like tea, it produces a gentle excitement, followed by wakefulness; and, if taken strong, retards the approach of hunger, prevents the usual breathlessness in climbing hills, and, in large doses, dilates the pupil, and renders the eye intolerant of light. It is seldom used in this way, however, but is commonly chewed in the form of a ball or quid, which is turned over and over in the mouth, as is done with tobacco. In this way its action is more gradual and prolonged than when the infusion only is taken. It is also very different in its character, because the constant chewing, the continued action of the saliva, and the influence of the lime or ashes chewed along with it, extract from the leaf certain other active constituents which water alone does not dissolve, when it is infused after the manner of tea."

It contains at least three different constituents; an odoriferous substance, a bitter principle, and a kind of tannic acid. When Cuca is imported into this country the leaves are coated with a resinous substance, like hops have, slightly soluble in water, but wholly in ether-which, on evaporation, leaves a brownish resin, which is powerfully odorous. This scent vanishes if it is exposed to the air for any length of time, and thus is lost one of the most important ingredients of good Cuca-rendering the leaf useless by keeping.

1 Ed. 1879, p. 363.

It contains a crystalline bitter principle which can be separated from it by alcohol. Like Theine, it is an alkaloid, and is called Cocaine; but it is not harmless, as, in many particulars, and in its physiological action upon the system, it resembles Atropine, the alkaloid of the deadly nightshade.

It also has a tannic acid, which gives a deep brownish green colour to the per salts of iron. So we see in its constituents it closely resembles the Thea Sinensis, only it is more powerful in its effects on the human frame, and, consequently, ought not to be taken in the same quantity as we now take tea, but it is invaluable in preventing, or greatly diminishing, the ordinary and natural waste which usually accompanies bodily exer

KOLA.

Whence Kola comes-Early Mention of-Early Trade in-Cure for Drunkenness-The Cattia edulis-Substitutes for Tea.

WOLA can scarcely be called a tea, because, as

KOL

a drink, it is produced from a nut, instead of a leaf, but it is put here because it contains the alkaloid Theine. Its botanical name is Sterculia acuminata, and it is a native of tropical West Africa, although now introduced into the West Indies and Brazils, The earliest mention of it that I have found, is in "the Sieur Brüe's Journey from Albreda, on the river Gambia, to Kachao, by land, in the year 1700." Shortly after his start from Gambia, he was entertained by a Portuguese lady, and "after a short Compliment, one of her Slaves, a young, handsome Girl, but very immodestly dressed, presented the General a Pewter Basin full of Kola, a fruit much valued by the Portugueze. It is bitter, and makes the Teeth and Spittle yellow."

Barbot1 gives a very bad illustration of the nut, and the following description. "The Cola is a sort of fruit, somewhat resembling a large chestnut. The tree is

1 A Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea, etc., by John Barbot, etc. Now first printed from his original MS., 1732.