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Show 2.6 • HISTORY OF MEXIC.O·. vulgarly called Coyote. It is a plant common in warm countries. but more cultivated by the ancients, than the moderns~ . The Achiote, called by the French Rocou,. ferved the Mex1cans · dy'ng as it now does the Europeans. Of the bark they made 111 1 cordage, ' and the wood was ufed to produce fi re b Y. fit'1.O1...'~ 1o~, af it er the mode of the ancient ihepherds of Europe. Th1s tree 1s well defcribed in the diCl:ionary of Bomare. With regard to corn and leguminous plants, th~t country had from Europe, wheat, barley, rice, peafe, beans, lentils, and others; all of which rooted thcm!elves fuccefsfully in foils fuited to their nat~re, and multiplied accordingly as we !hall {hew in our difi~rta-tions (i). Of grain, the chief, the mofi: u[eful, and moil: common was the maize, called by the Mexicans, 'I'luolft'; of which there are feveral fpecies, differing in fize, colour, weight, and tafi:e. There is the large and the fmall fort, the white, the yellow, the blue, the purple, the red, and the black. The Mexicans made bread of maize, and other meats, Cllf which we ihall treat hereafter. Maize was carried from America to Spain,' and . from Spain into the other countries of Europe, to th~ great advantage of the poor; though an author of the prefent day, would make America indebted to Europe for it;. an opinion the mofi: extravagant and improbable which ever entered a human brain ( k). Spain, being made acquainted of the lands of Mexico being fit for the culture of flax :md hemp, fent, in the year 177F1 twelve country families from Vega di Granata, to be employed in th at kind of agriculture. (i) Dr. liemandez, in his Natural Hiftm·y of Mexico, defcribcs the fpecies of wheat found in Michuacan, and boa!ls its proJigious fecundity : but the ancients either did not know, •Jr did not incline to ufe ir, but gave preference then, as they llill do, to th eir own maize. The fi rfr pcrfon who fowed European wheat in that coulltry w:u~ , 11 Moorifu f1:.1vc belonging to Cortez, having difcovered a few grains of it in a bag of rice, which he carrieci for provition to th e Spani{h foldicrs. ' ' (k) Here follow the words of Bomarc, in his DiCtionary of Nat. Hi{t vide Ble de Tt~rquie.On dunnnit a ce/te pla11te wrie1!(e & utile, lc nom de Ble d'ltulc; parce q ~ 'elle tire jofl oril{i?tt' tft•s i 1ulrs, tl'o11 elle .fi;t apport/ m Cf'urquic, & de In tlmrs toutcs lcs aut,·cs parties de i'E11;npr, ric I'AJI·iqtt~, & rle I' .Amerique: The name of Grano di Turchin, by which it is at prefcnt known m ltalr, muft certmnly have been the only reafon of Bomare's adopting an error j() rontrary to the teflimony of all writers on America, and the univcrfal belief of nati;111 • The wheat is. called by the Spaniards of Europe and America, Mnizi:, taken from the Haiti~~ la~l'gunge, which was fvoken in the ifland now called 1-Iifpaniola, or St, Domingo. 1 The • H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0 . The chief pulfe of the Mexicans, was the French bean, of which no OK l. ithe fpecies are more numerous and more varied than thofe of maize. '--"v"'--J The largeft fpecies is the Ayacot!i, which is the fize of a common bean, and comes from a beautiful red flow er; but the moil: efi:eemed is the fmall black heavy French bean. This pulfe, which in Italy is of no value, becaufe it is not good there, is fo exc Bent in Mexi-co, .that it not only ferves as fufi:enance to the poor clafs of people, but IS alfo efieemed a luxury by the Spanifi1 nobility. Of plants which were valuable for their root, their leaves, their trunk, or their wood, the Mexicans had many which ferved them for food, namely, the Xicama, Camote, Huacamote, Cacomite~ and others ; or which furnia1ed them with thread for their cloaths, or cordage, namely the Iczotl, and feveral f}1ecies of Maguei; or gave them wood for buildings and other works, as the cedar, pine, cyprc:fs, fir, and ebony, &c. The Xz'cama, called by the Mexicans Catzotl, is a root the fi.gute and fize of an onion; quite white, folid, frefh, juicy, and reli£hing, and always eat raw. The Camote is another root, extremely common in that country, of which there are three fpecies, one white, one yellow, and another purple. When boiled they tafi:e well, efpecially thofe of ~eretaro, which are jufily prized over all the kingdom(!). · The Cacomite is the efculent root of the plant which bears the beautiful tyger-.flower, already defcribed. , !he. Huacamote i.s the fweet root of a fpecies of Jucca (m), :Wh1ch IS alfo. eat boiled.. The papa which is a roCllt tranfplar.Hed mto Europe, and greatly valued in Ireland, was alfo brought from South America, its native country, into Mexico, as many other roots a~d falads were fro~ Spain and the Canaries, namely, turnips, fa·· d1!hes, carrots, garlrc, lettuces, and afpaifagus, cabbages, &c.. Oni· ons were fold .in the markets of Mexico, as Cortez . mentions in his letters to Charles Vth. fo that there was n0 neceffity for importing . (/) Many call the Camoti, Batate or Patate; but I have avoided this name bccaufc it i8 ·e~'!ivocal, and indifferently ufed by authors to fignify Camoti anJ Papc which are totall; ·dlflcrr nt roots. (m) ·~he jucca is that plant of whofe root they make Cajjiwa bre; d, in feveral countrie. ··of Amenca. them SEc r. VIII. Plants valu· able for their root, for thelr leaves, for their trunk, or for their wood. |
