The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1901-06-22
FAIRLY EAT aUlNlNs.
Foreigners I'm Mexico Who Keep FUN OK
the Drug All the Time.

the Drug All the Time.
"The quantity of quinine taken by
foreigners on the southeast coast OF
Mexico is something simply incredl-
ble," said a resident Of this city VINO
is interested in coffee culture in the
sister republic. There is a general
belief among the American and Eng
lish all through that region that the
drug is necessary for the preservation
of life, and they keep full Of it from
one years end to another. The first
time visited the coast I stopped at
Frontera, the first port east OF Vera
Cruz, and as soon as our ship tied up
it was boarded by tall, salloW man,
who turned out to be an American en-
gineer, in charge Of big sugar plant
up the country. He made a bee line
for the purser. Hello! Billy!' he said:
did you bring that Quinine? Sure,
replied the purser, and diving into his
cabin he came out with an armful Of
tin boxes. about the size Of tea cam
nisters, and japanned green. Each OF
them held pound Of quinine. I never
saw it put up that way before and, nat
urally, was surprised.
81 soon scraped an acquaintance
with the engineer and made bold to
inquire what in the world he wanted
with such a supply. Are you getting
it on a speculation I asked with a
vague idea that it might be intended
for some Mexican army contractor.
He laughed heartily. Speculation
nothing!' said he: this all goes to our
little colony of Americans back in the
interior, and it won't last very long,
either With that he drew a pen-knife
from his pocket. opened blade that
had been ground off round. like a spa
tula, and thrust it into one Of the
cans. He brought out a faky, white
mass-enough to heap a teaspoon
put 1t on his tongue and swallowed 1t
like so much sugar. Have you any
idea how many grains you are taking?
asked in amazement. Only approx
mately,' he replied carelessly; a man
quits weighing Quinine after he has
been down here few months That
was my first encounter with a bona
fide quinine-eater," the coffee planter
went on, "but I met plenty of them
afterward. They generally keep the
stuff in rubber tobacco pouches,
| to protect 1t from perspiration. and
when they feel like taking dose they
dig in, with one Of those spatulated
knives that they all carry and swallow
as much as they see fit. Az they go en-
tirely by guess, it is hard to say how
much will be eaten in the course Of a
day, but I have weighed the amount
that can be lifted on the ordinary
knife blade and found it to range be-
tween Is and so grains. You see, quiz
nine is as compressible as cotton. and
two wads of it that look about the
same size will vary 100 percent in
weight. One would suppose, as mat
ter Of course, that such enormous
quantities Of the drug would produce
an intolerable ringing in the head;
but, strange to say. they do nothing
of the kind. The average white man
down there who keeps under the in
fluence all the time. experiences moth
ing except slight feeling of exhilara-
tion-at least so I was assured by
dozens Of habitues. Whether the use
Of the stuff is of any real benefit is
something ann sceptical about. I
never took grain Of it myself. and
was the only man on our plantation
who didn't have touch Of fever
New Orleans Times-D Democrat,