1890 Coca and its Therapeutic Application by Angelo Mariani

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under a temperature that are favorable to its development, as shown by the leaves of Peruvian Coca,illustrated above, and which come from one of the newest haciendas of Santa- Anna, belonging to M. M.-P. Concha, bordering on the territory of a savage tribe of Antis or Campas,on the Uru- banba river, which joins the Amazon in latitude 12° S., longitude 75° W.

GATHERING OF COCA.

The plant begins to yield when it is about a year and a half old. The leaf is the only part of the plant used. It should be gathered in dry weather; this is entrusted generally to women,and simply consists in plucking each leaf with the fingers. The leaves are received into aprons, carefully carried under sheds,to shelter them from the rain and dampness, dried, and then packed. We quote from the Voyage dans la rdgion dii Titieaea, by Paul Marcoy,the following passage("Tour of the World," May,1877):"Of all the valleys of the Carabaya group, Ituata is the one where Coca is cultivated on the largest scale. They were then at the height of the work, peons and peonnes were following each other through the plan tations of the shrub,so dear to the natives that a decree of 1825 placed it in the crown of the arms of Peru,along side of the vicunia and cornucopia, or horn-of-plenty. Men and women carried a cloth slung across the shoulders in which were placed the leaves, as they gathered them one by one. These leaves,spread out on large awnings, were exposed to the sun for two or three days,then packed up in bags of about one metre in size, and sent off to all parts of the territory.

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