42 ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ETHNOLOGICAL 



BO consumed without salt or other condiment; except, perhaps, the leaves of a wild 

 turnip. This latter preparation was my sole nourishment for two days in the 

 hacienda Tablon Chico. 



ChocJco is a kind of lupine extensively used as a substitute for maize. After 

 bein"' soaked for one or two days in water, to free it from the acrid substance it 

 contains, it is boiled in water and consumed like mate. 



The Windsor bean {Faha vidgaris) is also a substitute for maize in some locali- 

 ties. It is boiled, like mate, or eaten baked before it is fully ripe, in which state 

 it is very palatable. 



Wheat forms also an important article of food. It is consumed in the .shape of 

 bread by the descendants of Europeans in the towns and cities. The bread is 

 generally of a very inferior quality for various reasons. The grain itself is mostly 

 very poor, and it is not ground fine enough. The dough is very imperfectly 

 kneaded, and the bread only half baked. Wheat is also made into mush, for 

 preparing which the grain is first boiled in lye, then freed from the hull by rub- 

 bing it with the hands, and washed and dried for future use. 



Articles less extensively ixsed as food are : Clienopodium, Quinuacoi/o, a yellow 

 seed of the size of the poppy seed, which swells up when toasted, and is used for 

 preparing soups; and the meal of peas, which is very palatable. In warmer 

 regions, where plantains grow, they are used when green, either baked, as in 

 Central America, or cut in thin slices and dried. A kind of mush is prepared 

 from the dried fruit called Ecj^e. 



Besides the tuberous roots, which are also cultivated in Central America, other 

 kinds are used as nourishment, which are indigenous to the country. Such are 

 Sanachoria (Germ, spell.), and Arocacha, grown in warm regions. In the ele- 

 vated regions the natives consume Oca, '■'■Oxalis tuberosa," which tastes similar to 

 the sweet potato, but is more watery; Ulloa, the roots of " UUucus tuherosus," which 

 are still more watery, and cannot be boiled tender; and MaseJnm (Germ, spell.), 

 the roots of wliich resemble very much our radishes and possess a similar volatile 

 oil; the last is only eaten by the poorest Indians, and used only as a medicine by 

 persons who are better off. 



Very little animal food is consumed by the great mass of inhabitants. For the 

 consumption of the wealthier classes, besides some cattle, principally sheep are 

 killed, and goats near the deserts of Peru. With the exception of the bones, 

 hoofs, horns, and hide, every part of an animal is eaten, the intestines and blood 

 included. The blood of a steer or a sheep is quite palatable. Of the poultry 

 every part is likewise consumed, feathers and bones only excepted. 



Cheese is extensively used by all classes, but in very small quantity by the poor, 

 who cannot afford to buy it. It is principally made of skimmed cows' milk, but 

 in those parts of Peru where the herding of goats is carried on extensively, some 

 cheese is made of goats' milk. 



On the elevated plateaus of the Andes the principal article of fuel is dried grass 

 of the Paramos; the charcoal which is bronglit from a distance is too expensive to 

 be extensively used. This scarcity of fuel must undoubtedly have a great influence 

 on the selection of articles for food and their preparation. This circumstance may 



