OCR Text |
Show 74 BOOK I. ' ,. H · STORY 0 MEXICO', black Ji eck: but afterwavds enlarges io nothing more th~ a ftnall f p the blood which it fucks, that! quickly, and to fuch a degree r~m as a bean and then takes the in a very fhort time it becomes as arge ' colour of. lead (f). . al' f M ico fo well known and fo highly The celebrateldl, ~ochm~ld o for t~: b;auty of the colo'ur which it af .... dl:oemed over a t lC wot ' d h (t ufefi l of all . n inf€tCl eculiar to that country, an t e mo . . , fords, 1s a P d There particular pams have .tl-that the land of Anahunc pro uces. . k' ( ) . k . .. t ti·om the times of the Mextcarl lllgs g , ways been ta en .to re.t~ 1 • •• b ft . that of Mizteca, where but the country 1ll which It thuves the e f!P 1 1 (/.) In the· - . . 1 b l f commerce o t 1a.t p ace u • .i.t is the prmcipa l ran~.~ ~ ear it alfo in Tlafcala, Huexotzinco,. fixteenth century tl :1cy u <.: 0 r ' · 1 f d b t the and other )la.ces, and it was a confiderable artie e o . tra e ; ~ I d. (Jho have always been the pedons employed 111 that buhnefs)r n 1ans S · {h \(ernors were oppreffed by the avaricioos tyranny of fome pam go b fid forced to apandon that employment which, of its ow_n natu~e e 1 es, was always very troublefome and tedious. The cochmea~ at.ltsi~tmr~ft rowtl} in fize and figure refembles a bug. The fema e lS P - g ortion;d and .fluggial. The eyes, mouth,. an tenore, and· feet,. a:e fo· ~onc.ale~ aJI)ong the wrinkles of it.' Jkin, that th? ~anne~ be dJfc~vered without the affi.fi:;mce of ·a m1crofcope : and 1t .1s ~wmg t~ th~t C•, lrcum1n1. ance, tllat .rw-m e Europeans have been fo po. fitlve m affirlml' mg tt ro be a k~·.n d of feed and not an animal, in oppofit1on to the· tednu' nony of the Indians who reared it, and of Hernandez who examme It as a. (/) Oviedo fa.y!r that the bell. nn~ fafd~ r~thod' of fepar.nting it fpcedily, io to anoint the P lrt with oil and then to fcrnpe It with a kmfe. ' 1 h 1 I I ' ( ) The 'h ifioriau Hen·crn r·n the 1) cc. IV . 11'1> . vu"1' . ca,1 J • 8• f:•1 ys • th~t a. t Olle.>,' 1 t 1e n- dian~ had the cochineal, yet ;hey knew nothing of ita virtues till th ey ~ere ~11~ruCled .by /he Sp"lliards But what did the S(>aninrde teach ~hem? To rear the cochtncal . b owrwcdJcht~ eyl fitte"d to te•a ch what they were ignorant of themfclves, w hI' lc t 11 cy :oo k th ar to c ''L ,cc w. r 1 is in reality an infect, They taught the .Tndi:ms · pcrhnps, to ufe. 1t ~s a d~c; . but llnlds t~~ Indians ufcd it as a dye, to what pu(pofe diU. they take fo much pallls Ill rcnnng It ? . Why WCI e Hu~xyacac, Coyolopan, and feveral other places obliged to pay t~venty bngs of ~och~ncal yearly to the king of Mexico, as appears by the rcgifrer of taxes? h It potliblc to u~a g rne, .t~a\ a people fo given to pairning oven aa they were, and who ~ere bdidc3 well acqumntcd IV1t l te life of the Achiotc, the indigo, and of a great many mmcral earths and fiones, fholtld. be irrnorant of the ufc nf the cochineal? "'(b) Several authon have reckoned that more t~an 2 150? bags of coc~incal arc fcnt e.~c:y yca1• from Mi~tcca to Spain. The trade in that arucle.carncd on ~y the cJty of Oaxaca, b11nj;s in 200 10 ~0 crowns a-)·car. Bomare fays, there is a kmd of cochmeal cnlled Mrflt·ctm, l>ecau c it is got ~in Meteque, in the pi'Ovince of Honduras: b u: t h'I S I·S a m_1' {t ak e, ~0 1· 1't c o mes from MiOeca a province fnrthcr from Honduras than Rome IS from Pam. J'll. ' natura ac . , • H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. .naturalifl:. The males are not fo numerous, and one ferves for three hundred females : they are likcwife final1er and thinner than the fe-mal~ s., but more brifk and aCtive. Upon the heads of this infeCt are two articulated antennro, in each at·ticulation of which are four fmall briftles regularly difpofed. It has fix feet, each confifl:ing of three parts. From the hinder part of the body grow out two hairs, which are two or three titnes as large as the whole infetl:. The male has two large wings, which are wanting in the female. Thefe wings are fi:rengthened by two tnufcles j one external, extending along the circumference of the wing; the other internal, which nms parallel to the former. The internal colour of this infeCt is a deep red, but darker in the female; and the external colour a pale red. In the wild cochineal the internal colour is il:ill darker, and the external whiti{h or afl1-coloured. • The cochineal is reared upon a fpecies of Nofal, or Opuntia, or Indian .fig, which grows to the height of about eight feet, and bears a fi·uit like the figs of other Opuntias, but not eatab]e. It feeds upon the leaves of that tree, by fucking the juice with a tru11k fituated in the thorax betwixt the two fore feet: there it pa6es through all the fl:ages of its growth, and at length produces a numerous crfffpring. The manner of multiplying peculiar to thefc valuable infects, the management of the Indians in rearing them, together with the .means employed to defend them from rain, which is fo hurtful t0 them, and from many enemies which perfecute them, D1nll be explained when we come to fJ e:tk of the agriculture of the Mexi ... C:111S (t). Among the wat r infc.:c1:s, the Atetepitz is a marfh beetle rc[cmbliJJg in fh:-tpe and fize the beetles that By. It has four feet, and is covered with a hard {hell. The Atopinan is a m:-~rD1 graD1opper, of a dark colour, abou~ fix inches long and two broad. The Ahw'l.mitla js a worm of the Mexi-.an lal e, four inches long, and or the th ~cknefs (i) D. Ant. Ulloa f:1y s, th :n the Nopfll, upon which the cochineal is rea red, has no prickles ; hut in Miileca, where I w.t~ for five years, I always litw it upon ,pridly nopal s. Mr. de Raynal i1nagincs, that the colour of the cochineal is to be ~fcribctl ·to tbc red fig upon which it lives ; but thnt auLh<ll' has been mifinformed ; for neither does the cot hiu cnl feed upon tlw fruit, but only upon the leaf, which is pcrfcDiy green; nor docs that 11 0)Jal bear red but white figs. It is tru e, it 111ay be rcal'cd upon the fpcci eij with a red fig, but t ll nt i~ not lthc proper plant of the cod1ine:tl. L 2 of 75 BOOK T. ~ • |