nous types’’ seems to be of no importance in answering 
the question of the antiquity of maize in Assam. Its 
antiquity seems to be a basic assumption to which the 
author clings despite conflicting evidence. 
Particular emphasis is placed upon the multiple uses 
of maize among the hill tribes. These are: (1) a catch 
crop eaten while the grain is soft; (2) stored for winter 
food either as the main crop or as a reserve secondary to 
rice; (8) for beer making; (4) for pop corn; (5) for pig 
food; (6) as an article of trade outside the village. 
Obviously the authors do not have a high opinion of the 
capabilities of pre-literate peoples: ‘*‘’T'o have these con- 
servative people somehow learning to use maize as a pop 
corn and as a green corn and as a cereal for brewing, to 
have them growing types of maize which are similar to 
each other yet rare or unknown in the New World puts 
the burden of proof on any one who would ascribe all this 
development to separate post-Columbian acquisitions. ”’ 
How else would primitive people be expected to use 
maize! If they use maize at all they must surely use it 
for food and once used for food it would be likely to be 
used both green and ripe, as it is in all other parts of the 
world where maize is grown. And if the mature maize 
is small and hard and capable of popping, how much in- 
genuity is required to put grains of maize “‘into the glow- 
ing embers of the fire,’ or ‘‘in the edge of the house 
fire’’ picking them out with bamboo tongs as they burst ? 
How often has the discovery been made independently 
that small hard kernels of maize will pop when exposed 
to heat? Is there any greater significance in the fact that 
the Assamese use maize for popping than in the fact that 
Asiatic people in general use seeds of species of Amaran- 
thus for that purpose, or the fact that people throughout 
Latin America use hard-seeded varieties of sorghum, an 
African plant, for popping? 
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