in the mining districts, when at work in the
mines or travelling; and such is the sustenance that they derive from
them, that they frequently take no food for four or five days. I have
often (observes Mr. Stevenson) been assured by them, that whilst they
have a good supply of coca they feel neither hunger, thirst, nor
fatigue, and that without impairing their health they can remain eight
to ten days and nights without sleep. The leaves are almost insipid,
but when a small quantity of lime is mixed with them, they have a very
agreeable sweet taste. The natives generally carry with them a leather
pouch containing coca, and a small calabash holding lime or the ashes
of the molle to mix with them.

_Cocculus indicus_, or Indian berries.--This is the commercial name
for the berries or fruit of the _Menispermum Cocculus_ of Linnaeus, _M.
heteroclitum_ of Roxburgh, _Animerta paniculata_ of Colebrooke, _A.
Cocculus_ of Wright and Arnot, and _Cocculus suberosus_ of Decandolle.
It is a strong climbing shrub or tree, native of Malabar, Ceylon, and
the Eastern Islands. The seeds or drupes contain a bitter poisonous
acid, and are used for the purpose of stupefying fish, and, in the
form of a black extract, for fraudulently increasing the intoxicating
power of malt liquors; one pound of the berries, it is said, will go
as far in brewing as a sack of malt. The berry is kidney-shaped, with
a white kernel. Whilst the imports in 1846 were but 246 bags, in 1850
they had increased to 2,359 bags of about 1 cwt. each. The price is
19s. to 24s. the cwt.

A crystalline, poisonous, narcotic principle called picrotoxin, has
been detected in these seeds, and occasionally employed externally in
some cutaneous diseases. _Cocculus crispus_ is used in intermittent
fevers and liver complaints.

The annual imports now average 250 tons, and nearly the whole is
consumed for illegal purposes by brewers. Though the practice is
nominally discountenanced by the Legislature under the penalty of L200
upon the brewer and L500 upon the seller, yet under the recent tariff
great encouragement is given to the introduction of these berries, the
duty having been reduced from 7s. 6d. to 5s. the cwt.

The capsules and seeds of _Xanthoxylum hostile_ are also employed for
the same purpose as cocculus indicus. The bark of _Walseria piscidia_,
a native of the Circar mountains, also intoxicates fish.

About 250 tons of _Nux vomica_, another species of dried flat seed