It was not until 1890 that the Peruvian Government, recognizing the needs of the enterprising planters who were opening up the lower valley of the Urubamba, decided to construct a mule trail along the banks of the river through the grand canyon to enable the much-desired coca and aguardiente to be shipped from Huadquiña, Maranura, and Santa Ann to Cuzco more quickly and cheaply than formerly.

In this way the proposition is to first measure coca against tea, then coffee against guarana, and finally to compare the four agents, using pure caffeine as a kind of standard to measure by.

The next agent tried in precisely this same way was coca; and knowing that the quality of that which was attainable was very low, the commencing dose of the leaf in substance was 2 drachms, or about 8 grammes.