words, the little glossy fruits, are what are so extensivel 
employed as an article of food on the Pacific side of South 
America, from the temperate parts of the Andes to the coast, 
although the cultivation seems to be chiefly confined to 
the mountainous districts. _We learn from the “ Mémoires 
d’Agriculture” for 1786, that there are few countries in 
South America where the Quinoa is more used than in 
Lima. Two principal methods are employed in preparing 
it. Inthe one case, it is boiled in water like Rice or Oat- 
meal, and a kind of gruel is the result ; in which the seeds 
are described as floating in the liquid coiled up and looking 
like little white worms. These are, no doubt, the spirally 
curved embryos of the seed. It is seasoned in various ways, 
chiefly with Pimento, and is much liked by those who are 
accustomed to it; but others find it insipid, and such is 
especially the case in Europe, where, at Edinburgh, our 
excellent friend Dr. Nerxx, tried various methods of prepar- 
ing this vegetable, but like his countrywoman, the worship- 
ful Lady Pumpuraston, who, on receiving, about a century 
ago, a pound of the finest Green Tea from China, as a rare 
and valuable present, stewed the same with butter, and 
served it up as sauce to a salted round of beef, and then 
marvelled “‘ how folk could praise such worthless, fissen- 
less stuff ;’’ so perhaps, from an equal deficiency in the 
mode of cooking, our Edinburgh friend could not make 
“ these foreign greens” palatable. 
The second mode of preparation employed in South 
America is called Carapulque, and is a favourite dish with 
the ladies of Lima. The grains are slightly toasted like 
Coffee, strained, and boiled in water, yieldmg a brown- 
coloured bouillie, seasoned with spices as in the first method, 
but it has so peculiar a flavor that few strangers like it. 
Two kinds of Quinoa are, however, in use in South Ame- 
rica; the one here figured with very pale fruits, called the 
White, and the dark, red-fruited one, called the Red Quinoa. 
The latter is chiefly cultivated in gardens for its medicinal 
virtues ; its seeds bruised and boiled in water, form a bitter 
decoction, which, mixed with sugar, is employed as a vul- 
nerary for sores and bruises. Cataplasms are also made of 
this variety. But the bitter principle may be removed, by 
throwing away the water in which the seeds are infused. 
Did the Quinoa constitute a food agreeable to the European 
taste, it might be cultivated easily enough ; and if grown in 
a rich soil, or upon the refuse of a hot-bed frame, as the 
plant was from which the accompanying figure was taken, 
it 
