Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-07-26
4 WONDERFUL PLANT.
ERYTHRoXYL0N COCA FROM WHICH
COCAINE Is EXTRACTED.
How the Plant is Cultivated-Strange
Effect of Chewing Its Leaves
The Political Situation.

! Especial Correspondence of the REcoRD-USIos.l
La PAZ, Bolivia, May 80, go.
One of the most important industries of
Bolivia, as well as of Peru and Ecuador, is
the cultivation of the plant known to
science as Eryttrorylon coca. For many
years past Bolivia's crop of dried coca
leaves has averaged trife over Z, 100000
| pounds. OF this vast amount, fully 55
! per cent. is consumed at home by the
native Indians. About 80 per cent of the
remainder is divided equally between
Chile and the Argentine Republic Peru
gets 10 per cent. of it; Europe per cent,
and the United States none at all.
Since alkaloid cocaine has lately come
into general use for producing local an
! esthesia the demand for the coca leaves
from which it is made has greatly in
| creased, though without sensibly affecting
the markets of South America. Soon as
the application of cocaine to surgical uses
became common, the British Government
sent out commission to collect the plants
and transfer them to India, and already
1
| yielding so profusely that they furnish
plenty of leaves for the German manu-
| facturer who supplies the world with most
| of the cocaine that is used.
1t must be remembered that the cocoa
palm, the seeds of which furnish the choc-
olate of commerce, and the coca plant from
which cocaine is made, are not related to
one another in any way, but belong to
| different branches of the vegetable family.
! Erythroxylon coca is not a tree, but small
shrub, growing from two to three feet
high. 1t fourishes best at an altitude
between 5000 and 5000 feet above the sea,
in sheltered places where the climate is
warm and moist without excessive heat.
In this country it attains its greatest per-
lection the Province of Yungas, where the
mountain ridges, crossing in every direc-
tion, leave deep hollows and narrow val.
leys between, giving all varieties of eli
mate, with the productions peculiar to
each. That section not only produces the
best coca in the world, but vanilla and
chocolate beans, sarsaparilla, coffee, aui-
nine, oranges, figs, bananas, grapes, apples
pears, peaches, plums, Strawberries,
ounces, cherries, chiremayas, mangoes,
aprlcots, sugar-cane, corn, wheat and
barley are gathered from the cooler nights,
the sunny hillsides and the lower valleys.
! A good deal of coca is also grown in
Peru, in the neighborhood of Cuzio, but
it is OF inferior quality, as the hot, dry
atmosphere thickens the leaves and de-
stroys their delicious flavor.
The lower mountain sides of the Yungas
and other valleys are laid out in terraces,
each terrace about a yard wide and well
supported by wall of stones, in which
the little coca bushes, closely resembling
tea plants, are set at regular distances.
The seeds are first sown in beds, and when
the plants are few inches high they are
transferred to the terraces. No fertilizers
are used, but great care is taken that no
grasses or other growths are allowed to
spring up with the coca
Each bush yields three generous CROP
of leaves in year, and sometimes four,
where the conditions of soil and climate
are peculiarly favorable Each crop is
called mttd. The first, known as ''Marzo
mita" March crop, is generally pick ed
In January. the second or "St Johns
mita," is gathered in May, and the third,
or "All Saints mita," in October. The
| harvest time, however, is by no means uni
form, depending greatly on, the weather,
the rain and other accidents.
The crop is gathered by Indian women,
who pick it, leaf by leaf, squatted upon the
ground in front of a bush 1t is slow
work, because the tiny leaves must not be
broken or the central fiber torn; and it is
believed that if the apex of the plant is
touched, or if any animal brushes against
it, all the leaves will instantly wither.
Following the women come men with
large sacks, who collect the gathered leaves
and carry them to the cacli, or coca-yard,
to be dried. The cachi is inclosed by a
wall, and paved with fat stones that are
kept perfectly clean. The morning sun
striking down on these stones heats them
so that when the leaves are spread
smoothly over the surface they become
perfectly dry in few hours. Then they
are re-collected, more carefully than ever,
having now become somewhat brittle; and
carried to the press, the latter being a
primitive machine, with a crossbeam made
of the hard wood of the country When
completely dry the leaves still retain their
bright green color, even after having been
packed for months
The press has box which holds pre-
cisely twenty-five pounds. A lining OF
dried banana leaves, soft as silk yet strong
as leather, is put into the box before the
COCO is poured in. When turned out of
the press the package is called certa; and
two certas, fifty pounds, when lashed to-
gether, form tdmbo or ''drum." The
latter is wrapped in coarse sacking and
more banana leaves, and makes bundle
which measures about three cubic feet. In
this shape it is toted over the mountains to
La Paz, on mule or llama back, to be de-
posted in the Adriaao de cocoa, or custom
house.
After picking season the roads leading
out of the valleys are literally filled with
beasts of burden laden with coca. and
troops of Indians on their way to town to
sell the fruit of their labors, or on the
way home, generally empty handed, but in
jolly state of intoxication, the women
outdoing the men in their enjoyment OF
the spree-singing, dancing, bowling, like
so many lunatics, but always docile and
respectful to the superior race. though
they occasionally indulge in little hair
pulling among themselves.
Thus the whole coca crop grown in the
lowlands must pass over the great Cordil.
lera, to hight of nearly 1900 feet, be-
fore it can reach market. A good deal
is ruined in transit, when not sufficiently
protected, as the least moisture, such as the
usual snow storm to be encountered in the
upper nights, rots the delicate leaves and
destroys their cocaine properties. That
which is exported from Bolivia is re.
wrapped at the Adriano in bales of 150
pounds each, covered first with rawhide,
then with strong cloth and thick coating
added of some resinous gum. Two Of these
bales, or 800 pounds, is considered a mule
load for the long. hard journey between La
Paz and the sea-
The average price of coca to the producer
is twenty-five cents (gold) per pound but
out of this he has to pay tax of twenty
four centayos (about thirteen cents gold)