d by me in very laborious
digging. During the whole time he was in my service, viz., five days and
nights, he never tasted any food, and took only two hours' sleep
nightly. But at intervals of two and a half or three hours, he regularly
masticated about half an ounce of coca leaves, and he kept an acullico
continually in his mouth. I was constantly beside him, and therefore I
had the opportunity of closely observing him. The work for which I
engaged him being finished, he accompanied me on a two days' journey of
twenty-three leagues across the level heights. Though on foot, he kept
up with the pace of my mule, and halted only for the _chacchar_. On
leaving me, he declared that he would willingly engage himself again for
the same amount of work, and that he would go through it without food if
I would but allow him a sufficient supply of coca. The village priest
assured me that this man was sixty-two years of age, and that he had
never known him to be ill in his life.

The Indians maintain that coca is the best preventive of that difficulty
of respiration felt in the rapid ascents of the Cordillera and the Puna.
Of this fact I was fully convinced by my own personal experience. I
speak here, not of the mastication of the leaves, but of their decoction
taken as a beverage. When I was in the Puna, at the height of 14,000
feet above the level of the sea, I drank, always before going out to
hunt, a strong infusion of coca leaves. I could then during the whole
day climb the heights and follow the swift-footed wild animals without
experiencing any greater difficulty of breathing than I should have felt
in similar rapid movement on the coast. Moreover, I did not suffer from
the symptoms of cerebral excitement or uneasiness which other travellers
have observed. The reason perhaps is, that I only drank this decoction
in the cold Puna, where the nervous system is far less susceptible than
in the climate of the forests. However, I always felt a sense of great
satiety after taking the coca infusion, and I did not feel a desire for
my next meal until after the time at which I usually took it.

By the Peruvian Indians the coca plant is regarded as something sacred
and mysterious, and it sustained an important part in the religion of
the Incas. In all ceremonies, whether religious or warlike, it was
introduced, for producing smoke at the great offerings, or as the
sacrifice itself. During divine worship the priests chewed coca leaves,
a