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Show H I S T 0 R Y. 0 F M E X I C 0. clfe with the bread to make it fiill mqre wholefome and rdiihing. For p:!rfons of ran!~ and circum fiances, they ufed to make bre.td of red nuizc, m;xing with it the beautiful flower coatzontecoxochitl, and feveral medicinal herbs, to dimini!h its heat to the tlomach. This is the fort of bread which the Mexicans, and all the other nation · of thofe -extenlive regions, have ufed until our time, preferring it to the bell: bi·e.td of w!le1t. Their example has been imitated by many Spaniards ; but to fpeak impartially, this bread, although it is extremdy wholdome and fub!l:cmtia'l, and when fre01 made of a good talL, becomes rather dif.'lgree~tble when il:ale. The making of bread, as wdl as the preparing and dreffing of every kind of meat, h?s always among thofe nations been the peculiar occupation of th.:ir women. They were the perfons who made it for t~e ir families, ana who fold it in the market. Be!ides bread, they made many other meats and drinks of maize, with different ingredients and preparation s. The atolli is a gruel of maize, 'clfter it has been boiled, well-ground,. dilfolved in water, and il:rained. They put the ftrained liquqr over a fire, and give it another boiling until it becomes of a certain thicknefs. The Spaniards think it infi pid to the tafl:e, but they give it commonly to fick perfons, as a moil: falutary food, fweetening it with a little fugar, infi:ead of honey, which is ufed'by the Indians. To them it is fo grateful they cannot live without it. It was formerly and il:ill is their breakfatl, and with it they bear the fatigues of agriculture, and other fervile offices in which they are employed. Hernandez defcrihes eighteen fpecies of atolli, whi<.h differ both with regard to the fe~\io ning ingredients, and the manner of preparing them. Next to maize, the vegetables moll in ufe were the cacao, the chia, and the French be:m. Of the cacao they m ~de ievert\1 common drinks, ind among others that which they called Chocolatl. They ground ~qual quantities of the cac.1o and the fee~s of ~ocbotl, p~t th~m both with a proportionable quantity of water mto a little pot, m whtch they fiirred and turned them with that littl ~ indented inll:rument of wo:.>d, which the Italian$ call fru/lo, the Spaniards mo!t'm'llo, and the Engliili milling-jlk k; then they poured off the floating oily pJ.rt into an Qther ve!fel. VO L, I , K k k Into 433 nooK v:1. ~ |