1890 Coca and its Therapeutic Application by Angelo Mariani

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ceptible manner. It is only after some months that the surface of the poporo, on which the chewer continually turns the little stick, becomes covered with a hardly per ceptiblelayer of calcareous substance; at the end of two or three years the superimposed layers form a ring which grows larger from year to year,and which finally attains the thickness we have spoken of above.

Small stick for extracting the Llipta from the poporo.

1. Poporo of a youth.

2. Poporo ofa man in his prime.

3. Poporo of an old man.

As we have said before,the Indian never parts with his poporo,let him be awake or asleep,at home or on hisi travels, the poporo is always attached to his belt. An Indian would part with all he holds most dear in the world, all, except his poporo. We have the rare and good fortune to possess a poporo, of which we give a picture (fig. 3). It is, we believe, the only specimen existing in Europe. We owe it to the kindness of M.Gauguet,who has made numerous voyages to Colombia, where he has been able to establish so much sympathy among the natives thatone of their old chiefs, who was specially indebted, did not fear to depart from all

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