h, after the rains; the second is at the end of June, the third in
October or November. The green leaves (_matu_) are spread in thin layers
on coarse woollen cloths and dried in the sun; they are then packed in
sacks, which, in order to preserve the quality of the leaves, must be
kept from damp.

In the Kew Bulletin for January 1889 is an account of the history and
botany of the plant, which has been so long under cultivation in South
America that its original home is doubtful. As the result of this
cultivation numerous forms have arisen. The writer distinguishes from
the typical Peruvian form with pointed leaves a variety
_novo-granatense_, from New Granada, which has smaller leaves with a
rounded apex. The plant is now cultivated in the West Indies, India,
Ceylon, Java and elsewhere. It has been estimated that coca is used by
about 8,000,000 of the human race, being consumed in Bolivia, Peru,
Ecuador, Colombia and Rio Negro. In Peru the Indians carry a leathern
pouch (the _chuspa_ or _huallqui_) for the leaves, and a supply of
pulverized unslaked lime, or a preparation of the ashes of the quinoa
plant (_Chenopodium Quinoa_), called _llipta_ or _llucta_. Three or four
times a day labour is suspended for _chacchar_ or _acullicar_, as the
mastication of coca is termed. The leaves, deprived of their stalks, are
chewed and formed into a ball (_acullico_) in the mouth; a small
quantity of the lime or llipta is then applied to the acullico to give
it a proper relish. Two or three ounces of coca are thus daily consumed
by each Indian.

Coca was used by the Peruvian Indians in the most ancient times. It was
employed as an offering to the sun, or to produce smoke at the great
sacrifices; and the priests, it was believed, must chew it during the
performance of religious ceremonies, otherwise the gods would not be
propitiated. Coca is still held in superstitious veneration among the
Peruvians, and is believed by the miners of Cerro de Pasco to soften the
veins of ore, if masticated and thrown upon them.

The composition of different specimens of coca leaves is very
inconstant. Besides the important alkaloid _cocaine_ (q.v.), occurring
to the extent of about O.2% in fresh specimens, there are several other
alkaloids. The preparations of coca leaves are incompatible with certain
drugs which might often be prescribed in combination with them, such as
salts of mercury, menthol and mineral acids, which latter decompose
cocaine into