l say, or, as some call it, "cocoa," which should be
called, to name it properly, "cacao." No, I answer--it was not
chocolate, nor cocoa, nor cacao neither.

"It must have been cocoa-nuts then?" No; nor yet cocoa-nuts. The "coca,"
upon which Guapo made his supper, and which contented his stomach
perfectly for the night, was an article very different from either the
cacao which makes chocolate, or the nut of the cocoa-palm. You are now
impatient to hear what sort of thing it was, and I shall tell you at
once.

The coca is a small tree or shrub about six feet in height, which grows
in the warmer valleys among the Andes mountains. Its botanical name is
_Erythroxylon coca_. Its leaves are small and of a bright green colour,
and its blossoms white. Its fruits are very small scarlet berries. It is
a native plant, and, therefore, found in a wild state; but it is
cultivated by the planters of these countries in fields regularly laid
out, and hence called "cocales." This plant is raised from the seed, and
when the young shoots have attained the height of about eighteen inches,
they are transplanted and put down again at the distance of about a foot
apart from each other.

Now as these little bushes require a humid atmosphere, maize-plants are
sown between the rows to protect them from the sun. In other places
arbours of palm-leaves are constructed over the coca-plants. When no
rain falls, they are watered every five or six days. After about two and
a half years of this nursing, the coca-bush is ready for use, and it is
the leaves alone that are valuable. These are gathered with great care,
just as the Chinese gather the leaves of the tea-plant; and, as in
China, women are principally employed in this labour. The leaves are
said to be ripe, not when they have withered and turned brown, but at a
period when they are full-grown and become brittle. When this period
arrives, they are picked from the tree, and laid out on coarse woollen
cloths to dry in the sun.

When dried, they remain of a pale green colour; but should they get damp
during the process, they become darker, and are then of inferior
quality, and sell for a less price. When fully dried, they are carefully
packed in bags and covered up with dry sand, and are thus ready for the
market. Their price, on the spot where the crop is produced, is about
one shilling English per pound. They are, therefore, full as costly to
produce as tea itself, although the coca-bush will y