“This plant is subject to only two diseases of any importance. The first is taja, which I suppose to be the result of a fungus which attacks the undeveloped leaves and tender twigs. It is said by some to be caused by careless picking, in which the twigs are broken. By others it is said to result from the planting of seeds taken from young plants. The only remedy is to remove and burn the diseased portions. The second disease, if such it can be called, is the ravages of a caterpillar called “ulo,” which makes its appearance in December, and destroys the crop so quickly that it admits of no remedy. “The method of picking and drying the Coca has been so often and so well described of late that it is not necessary to dwell upon it. Coca picking is a profession to which the children are trained from a tender age. The leaves are picked singly, both hands being employed with a rapid alternating motion, which strips a twig in an instant. Great care is taken to avoid breaking the twigs, and the young leaves are not picked. Little sacks are tied about the waist, or the women’s aprons are pinned or sewn into the required form. They are then transferred to larger sacks, which must be filled and emptied with great promptness, or the leaves will become heated and turn black. “The price here paid for picking is a Bolivian dollar, equal to about seventy-one cents United States currency, or three shillings English, for each thirty pounds, which, when dry, will weigh about twelve pounds. “The leaves are exposed to a hot sun upon a pavement of nicely-fitted flat stones, and stirred occasionally until dry. Under the most favourable conditions the drying is accomplished in about three hours. About the Coca place are built the storage and packing sheds. These are furnished with very broad doors, and men are in constant attendance to sweep the Coca with brush-brooms through these broad portals at the slightest indication of rain. A very few drops of rain are sufficient to decolorise and ruin the sale of the Coca, though it is my impression that such decolorisation, if produced by but little rain, is no indication of loss of cocaine. During the first few days that the dry Coca lies within the storage-sheds it undergoes a slight sweating process. “When I come now to speak of the best methods of packing the Coca for export, it is fair to say that nothing definite is known. Such Coca as has reached Europe or the United States in good condition has done so purely by accident; for, perhaps, the very next lot, dried, packed, and shipped as nearly as possible in the same manner, has arrived entirely ruined. I have tried many methods, and as often as I had thought that the secret was discovered, my hopes have resulted in disappointment.