The virtues of the coca must be of the most astonishing character. The Indians, who are addicted to its use, are declared to be thereby enabled to withstand the toil of the mines amidst noxious metallic exhalations without rest, food, or protection from the climate. They run hundreds of leagues over deserts, and plains, and craggy mountains, sustained only by the coca and a little parched corn; and often too, acting as mules in bearing loads through passes where animals cannot go. Some have attributed this frugality and power of endurance to the effects of habit, and not to the use of coca; but the Indian is naturally voracious, and it is known that many Spaniards were unable to perform the Herculean tasks of the Peruvians until they habitually used the coca; moreover, it is affirmed, that without it, the Indians lose both their vigour and powers of endurance. During the siege of La Paz in 1781, when the Spaniards were constantly on the watch, and destitute of provisions, in the inclemencies of winter, they were saved, as chroniclers narrate, from disease and death by resorting to this plant. Some of those who deny many of the effects, said to be produced by its use, admit that the coca is useful medicinally as a preservative against the fevers which are consequent to a climate like that of Peru. Hallucinations result from the use of the coca as from that of the narcotic hemp, but not, as it would appear, to the same extent. The inordinate use of this plant, as indeed of all the narcotics, seems to be attended with fearful results. One description with which we are acquainted, gives details of no very desirable character. It affirms that the abuse speedily occasions bodily disease, and detriment to the moral powers, but that still the custom may be persevered in for many years, especially if frequently intermitted, and the coquero sometimes attains the age of fifty with comparatively few complaints. But the oftener the orgies are celebrated, especially in a warm and moist climate, the sooner are their destructive effects made evident. For this reason, the natives of the cold and dry districts of the Andes are more addicted to the consumption of coca than those of the close forests, where undoubtedly other stimulants do but take its place. Weakness in the digestive organs, which, like most incurable complaints, increases continually in a greater or less degree, first attacks the unfortunate coquero. This complaint, which is called “opilacion,” may be trifling at the beginning, but soon attains an alarming height. Then come bilious obstructions, attended with all those thousand painful symptoms which are so much aggravated by a tropical climate, jaundice and derangement of the nervous system follow, along with pains in the head, and such a prostration of strength, that the patient speedily loses all appetite. The whites of the eyes assume a leaden colour, and a total inability to sleep ensues,