The Indians maintain that Coca is the best preventive of that difficulty of respiration felt in the rapid ascents of the Cordilleras and the Puna. “Of this fact,” says Von Tschudi,[11] “I was fully convinced by my own experience. I speak here, not of the mastication of the leaves, but of their decoction taken as a beverage.” [Footnote 11: Op. cit. p. 454.] “When I was in the Puna, at the height of fourteen thousand 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 movements on the coast. Moreover, I did not suffer from the symptoms of cerebral excitement or uneasiness which other travellers have experienced. The reason, perhaps, is, that I only drank the decoction on the cold Puna, where the nervous system is far less susceptible than in the climate of the forests beneath. 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.” He also says:— “A cholo of Huarai, named Hatan Huamang, was employed by me in very laborious digging. During the five days and nights he was in my service he never tasted any food, and took only two hours’ sleep each night. But at intervals of two and a half or three hours he regularly chewed 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 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.” In this account we cannot but conclude that the traveller’s credulity was imposed on. He further adds:— “Setting aside all extravagant and visionary notions on the subject, I am clearly of opinion that the moderate use of Coca is not merely innoxious, but that it may even be very conducive to health.” He instances cases “by no means singular,” of longevity among the Indians of individuals who had attained the great age of 130 years, under its use.