The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-07-27

of its revenue from the coca business. The1
right to collect the tax is Harmed out" or
sold to the highest bidder, sealed proposals |
being received for the privilege. The con-
tracts are given for one year only, running
from the 18th of June to the 10th of the
following June. A greater part of the tax
goes into the public treasury, and the bal
ance is used for improving tue rough roads
over the heights and down into the valleys
where coca grows. A late contract was bid
in for 235, $50 bolivianas; of which sum
2l5, 40 will go to the government, leaving
Tor the road commissioners 20, $50 dollars OF
the country.
At least IS per cent. of all the coca that
is raised in Bolivia is brought to La Paz
under these contracts; the remainder being
sold by middle-men to the residents of adj
lacent villages on the great Andrean
plateau.
THE MANNER OF TAX COLLECTING
in Yungas is fair sample of the mode
throughout the country. Tanacachi, a vii
lage near the western terminus of the val
ley, lies in narrow canon between impas
sable mountains, through which there is
but one road. All the streets of the town,
except that one leading into the canon
road, are securely walled up just outside
the suburbs; so that all cargo must pass by
way of the custom house, which stands at
the head OF the ca1on.
Whenever an Indian passes with pack
on his back or a load on his mule, II he
does not stop and show what he carries, or
pay the tax, if it be coca, he quickly finds
himself in trouble. Out rushes a customs
officer, armed with long iron poker which
has screw like apparatus at one end and
heavy rawhide whip attached to the
other. The screw point he thrusts deep
into the middle of the cargo to determine
if any coca may be hidden within it; and
should the Indian resist, he does not hest
tate to use the whip ON his back, dd hbitum
The principal consumers of coca in Peru
and Bolivia are the Quichua and Aymara
Indians. In the tombs of the ancient
Peruvians there may always be found
buried with the mummy small quantity of
coca leaves, together with an earthen vase
or jar that once held lime or potash. To
this day
POTASH is EATEN WITH THE COCA.
1t is made by incinerating the root of
weed which is Indigenous to the soil where
coca grows, or from the bark of a species of
wild bean, of which the Indians are very
fond.
The whites and cholos (half- breeds) sell
dom use coca at all, except. sometimes as
an infusion in cases of debility. The infu-
| sion is made in the same manner as tea, eX
cept that the first water is thrown away,
being too strong and bitter. The second
| sleeping is not disagreeable to the taste,
and is extremely exhilarating. A species
of wine is also being made for medicinal
purposes comparatively a new invention,
whose benefcent effects remain to be
proved
The increase of ones powers of endur-
ance by the use of coca leaves, especially
in the highe" attitudes, is something mar
velous. Aside from relieving sirroche, the
distressing difficulty of breathing incident
to exercise in the thin air of the Andes, it
is said to completely abolish all sense of
hunger or fatigue. 1t is an undoubted fact
that an Indian, when well supplied with
coca, will travel from fifty to seventy five
miles a day, carrying on his back the load
of llama, almost without food for days
| together. Indeed, he considers
FOOD AS OF SECONDARY IMPORTANCE,
or rather as third on his list of necessities,
diluted alcohol coming next to coca. All
the Aymaras and Quichuas, male and
| female, use incredible quantities of both
alcohol and coca, while. their allowance of
food is extremely small, the menu being
limited to but two or three edibles from
one year. end to another. That the women
consume even more than the men is, per-
haps, no more than fair, since the former
do all the hardest work and earn most of
the money.
The laborers of this country are univer
sally Indians, and all employers must fur
nish a certain amount of coca to each man,
or he will not work at all In the mines,
the least allowance per diem is five ounces
for every man, and eight ounces is some
| times given. Thus supplied, an Indian
will work willingly and well from o'clock
in the morning until p. m, taking nothing
to eat in the meantime. He generally has
e. g L.
laborS, and after in the evening he eats
whatever he can get.
! His first cud is accumulated in about two
hours, from to O'Clock, taking it leaf by
| leaf, stripping the central stem between
his teeth, and from time to time adding
few grains of potash This alkali causes
BURNING SENSATION ON THE LIPS,
but is soon Incorporated with the cud, serv-
ing to neutralize the acidity of the leaves
and at the same time aiding digestion by
provoking an increased flow of saliva.
| At 10 o'clock am. the employer gives him
| half an hour of rest. He then throws away
the mornings chew, rinses out his mouth
with alcohol, and industriously begins the
accumulation Of second cud. Again, at
l 30 o'clock another rest is given, which he
employs in making third chew. AT 3 80
| the same performance is repeated.
| He still has little coca left for the even
ing, and if the days allowance has been
| generous enough, he will keep himself
awake and garrulous all night Many In
dams get credit against coming wages for
a greater amount of coca than the employer
| feels disposed to furnish gratis and if they
can add TO 1t some 40 per cent of alcohol
their bliss is complete.
Strange to say, the most inordinate use
of coca is not followed by delirium tremens,
nervousness, or any other effect that may
I,o ,oti hi T,,I -
has lived on it for two or three days, taking
little or no food and enduring excessive
fatigue. Whenever opportunity offers, he
| will eat the back numbers of omitted meals
in one gigantic heap, thus showing that no
| serious disturbance of the stomach has
arisen from his coca intoxication. Neither
does its habitual use seem to affect the
longevity, unless it may be to prolong it.
| One never meets
| A TOoTHLBSS OR BALD-HEADED INDIAN
though one hundred years is here consid-
cred their average span of life. There is a
cheerful Methuselah in Chuquibambilla.
who claims to have just turned his one hun
dred and forty second year, and the parish
priest supports his statement by the church
record of births. This aged Indian does
not look any older than his great grand
children, and declares that for more than
ninety years he has not tasted water or any
| liquid whatsoever but chicha, the native IN
toxicant, made from fermented corn: that
he has eaten coca three times day ever
since he was ten years old, and has seldom
had animal food except on Sundays, some
times having no meat at all for months to-
gether, but subsisting entirely on corn.
barley and quinua.
On this subject, Mr.. Stevens writes
Instances are not rare of Indians who at
tain one hundred and thirty, and even more
years OF age, yet. retaining full possession
of their bodily and mental powers. On ex-
aiming the church register of Barranca, /