calculations, or the bases on which they rest. At first the Spaniards strenuously opposed the use of the coca—it was anathematized by them everywhere, as tobacco was by its zealous opponents in the old world, but this opposition only seemed to produce an extension of the habit. Then the Spaniards, appreciating the advantages which might accrue to them in a monopoly of the plant, took the culture into their own hands, and by force, enrolled the Indians of the Cordilleras in their service, much to the discomfort of the latter, who suffered extremely from the change of climate. Complaints to the government being so numerous, the Viceroy, Don Francisco de Toledo, espoused the cause of the Indians, published seventy-one decrees in their favour, and the speculation was abandoned. It is said, that in 1583 the government of Potosi derived a sum not less than £100,000 from the consumption of 90,000 to 100,000 baskets of this leaf. The cultivation of coca is therefore an important feature in Peruvian husbandry, and so lucrative, that a coca plantation, whose original cost and current expenses amounted to £500 during the first twenty months, will, at the end of ten months more, bring a clear income of £340. The coca possesses a slightly aromatic and agreeable odour, and when chewed, dispenses a grateful fragrance, its taste is moderately bitter and astringent, and somewhat resembles green tea; it tinges the saliva of a greenish hue. Its effects on the system are stomachic and tonic, and it is said to be beneficial in preventing intermittents, which have always prevailed in this country. The mode of employing coca is to mix with it in the mouth a small quantity of lime prepared from shells, much after the manner that the betel is used in the East. With this, a handful of parched corn, and a ball of arrow-root, an Indian will travel on foot a hundred leagues, trotting on ahead of a horse. On the frequented roads, we are informed, that the Indian guides have certain spots where they throw out their quids, which have accumulated into little heaps, that now serve as marks of distance; so that, instead of saying, one place is so many leagues from another, it is common to call it so many quids. Dr. Weddell states that the Bolivians are in the habit of using instead of lime with their leaf, a substance called _llipta_, which consists of the ashes of the Quinoa plant; in other parts the ashes of other plants are used, as on the Amazon, those of the leaves of the trumpet-tree. These alkaline ashes are made into little cakes, and sold in the markets.