1892 Drinks of the world

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291

Markharn ^ also .'^ys, " The reliance on the extra- ordinary virtues of the Coca leaf, amongst the Peruvian Indians,, is so strong, that, in the Huanaco province, they believe that, if a dying man can taste a leaf placed on , his tongue, it is a sure sign of his future happiness." He also gives an account of the modern cultivation of the plant. Sowing is commenced in December and January, :- when the rains begin, which continue until April. The seeds are spread on the surface of the called alindcigay over which there is generally a thatch roof soil in a small nursery or raising ground and protected from the sun by the huascichi. The following year they are transplanted to a soil specially prepared by thorough weeding, and breaking up the clods very fine by hand ; often in terraces only afford- mg room for a single row of plants, up the side of the mountains, which are kept up by small stone walls. The plants are generally placed in square holes called aspi, a foot deep, with stones on the sides to prevent the earth from falling in. Three or four are planted in each hole, and grow up together. In Caravaya and Bolivia the soil in which the Coca grows is composed of a blackish clay, formed from the decomposition of the schists, which form the principal geological features of the mountains. On level ground the plants are placed in furrows called nachos, separated by little walls of earth, umachas, at the foot of each of {huascichi). At the end of about a fortnight they ; the young plants being continually watered, come up

* Travels in Peru^ by C. R. Markham, 1862, p. 237.