un A VOYAGE TO Book V, 



them is, that they are a favourite food with the in- 

 habitants of these countries, who eat them instead of 

 bread, nor is there a made dish or ragout in which 

 they are not an ingredient. The Creoles prefer them 

 to any kind of meat, or even fowl. A particular dish 

 is mnde of them, and served up at the best tables, 

 called locro ; and is always the last, that water may 

 be drunk after it, which they look upon as otherwise 

 unwholesome. This root is the chief food of the lower 

 class; and they find it so nutritive and strengthening, 

 that they arc not desirous of more solid food. 



The oca is a root about two or three inches in 

 length, and about half an inch, or something more, 

 in thickness, though not every where equal, having a 

 kindof knotswhere they twist and wreathe themselves. 

 This root is covered with a very thin and transparent 

 skin, whose colour is in some yellow, in some red, and 

 others orange. It is eaten either boiled or roasted, 

 and has nearly the same taste as a chesnut ; with this 

 difference, however, common to all the fruits of 

 America, that the sweetness predominates. It is 

 both pickled and preserved, the latter being what 

 the Americans are very fond of. This root is also 

 an ingredient in many made dishes. The plant is 

 small, like the camote, yucas, and others already 

 described. 



With regard to the corn of this country, there is 

 no necessity for enumerating the species, they being 

 the same with those knov/n in Spain. The maize and 

 barley are used by the poor people, and particularly 

 by the Indians, in making bread. They have several 

 methods of preparing the maize; one is by parching, 

 Vv'hich they call carnea. They also make from this 

 grain a drink called chica, used by the Indians in the 

 times of the Yncas, and still very common. The 

 method of making it is this: they steep the maize in 

 water till it begins to sprout, when they spread it in 

 the sun, whereit is thoroughly dried; after which 



they 



