“The Peruvian ordinarily keeps his coca in a little bag called _chuspa_, which he carries suspended at his side, and which he places in front whenever he intends to renew his _chique_, which he does at regular intervals, even when travelling. The Indian who prepares himself to chew, in the first place sets himself as perfectly at ease as circumstances permit. If he has a burden, he lays it down; he seats himself, then putting his _chuspa_ on his knees, he draws from it, one by one, the leaves which are to constitute his fresh ‘quid.’ The attention which he gives to this operation is worthy of remark. The complaisance with which the Indian buries his hand in the leaves of a well-filled _chuspa_, the regret he seems to experience when the bag is nearly empty, deserve observation, for these little points prove that to the Indian the use of coca is a real source of enjoyment, and not the simple consequence of want.” We remember an elderly lady[31] who was in the habit of taking snuff with the same amount of ceremony. First, she comfortably seated herself, arranged her dress, and smoothed her apron. The most important occupations always being for the time put aside, and apparently forgotten. The next operation consisted in drawing from some capacious receptacle, the entrance to which was enveloped in the folds of her outer garment, a large brown handkerchief, studded with small yellow spots, just visible, we remember it for years, and never any other; this was laid upon the lap prepared to receive it. Another step consisted in drawing out from the same mysterious receptacle, a black japanned box, circular in shape, and of the diameter of a shaving-box, but scarce an inch in thickness; this was carefully wiped with the handkerchief already named, and then grasped in the left hand, resting on the palm, and pressed by the thumb on one side, and the extremities of the fingers on the other. A slight, but smartly repeated rap or two on the top of the box with the knuckles of the right hand constituted the commencement of the fourth operation, which ended by taking hold of the upper portion of the box with the fingers of the right hand, in the same manner that the lower was held by the left, and gently raising it obliquely, as it were, upon a hinge, although it possessed none, and leaving it, when nearly perpendicular, in charge of the now disengaged fore-finger and thumb of the left hand, whilst the right hand was entirely free. How radiant was the smile when the yellow dust filled at least a moiety of the cavity of the opened box. How disconsolate the expression when this devout consummation was not attained. Witness next the extended fingers, and the adroit dexterity with which the finger and thumb collected its accustomed dole, and conveyed it to the olfactory organs. How carefully it was carried, first to the right nostril, and then to the left, and with two hearty inspirations imbibed. The returning fingers now closed