COCHINEAL. 



713 



Sochincal. designate by the name of Tana ('e Camilla. This no- 



s -y ' pal, the most elegant of all the opuntia, is in fact fit for 



the nourishment of the mealy cochineal, especially after 



its birth ; but it is seldom to be found in the nopaleries 



of Oaxaca. 



In the intendancy of Oaxaca, the Indians do not all 

 follow the same method in rearing the cochineal, which 

 M. Thiery rie Menouville saw practised in his rapid pas- 

 sage through San Juan del Re, San Antonio, and Qui- 

 catlan. The Indians of the district of Sola and Zimat- 

 lan establi.-h their nopaleries on the s'ope of mountains, 

 or in ravines, two or three leagues distant from their vil- 

 lage*. They plant the nopals, alter cutting and burn- 

 ing the trees which covered the ground. If they 

 coi-tii.ue to clean the ground twice a year, the young 

 plants are able to maintain the cochineal in the third 

 year. For this purpose, the proprietor of a nopalery 

 purchases, in the m-inth of April or May, branches or 

 joints of the Tuna df Castii/a, laden with small cochi- 

 neals, (*ewi//) rec. ntiy hatched. These branches, des- 

 titute of r- ots and separated from the trunks, preserve 

 their juice tor several months, Thry are soid for ab^.ut 

 three francs the hundred in the market of Oaxaca. The 

 Indians preserve the semilla of the cochineal for twenty 

 days in caverns, or in the interior of their huts, and after 

 this period the* t-xp^sc the young c- ecus to the open 

 air. The branch*-* to which the insect is attached, are 

 su-( ended under a shed covered with a s raw roof. The 

 gr.-wth of the cochineal is s rapid, that even in ttie 

 month* of August and September, we find mothers al- 

 ready bi^r hvfoie the youn.r art- yet hatched. These mo- 

 ther cochineals are "1 :ced in nests, made of a specie^ of 

 tillanrisia calli d paztte. They are earned in these nests 

 two or three leaguo froir the village, and distributed in 

 the nopalerieh, where the > ung plants receive the semil- 

 )u. The laying .if the mother-cochineal lasts from thir 

 teen to fifteen d^ys. If the situation ot the plantation is 

 not very elevated, the first harvest n>ay be expected in 

 less than four months. It is observed, that in a climate 

 more cold thai) temperate, the colour of the cochin- al is 

 equally beautiful, but that thr ha ve t is much later, (n 

 the plain, thr mother coch'neaU grow to a greater size, 

 but they met-t with m re em-n <> in the innumerable 

 quaiitity of msect c, (jfcnr.'/fls. jwrrilot, arai/ores, agv- 

 jas armadillos, culebriias ) 1 zan's, rdt , ai U birds, by 

 wh ch they are devoured. Much care necessary in 

 cUaning the branche* of the nopals The Indian wo- 

 men make use ot a tqii'rrel 01 (.tag'i) tail for that pur 

 pose : they squat down for hours together beside one 

 plant; and notwithstanding thr excessive price of the 

 cochineal, it is to be doubted if tins cultivation would 

 be profitable, in countries where the time and labour of 

 man might be turned to recount. At Sola, where very 

 cold rains occasionally fall, arid where it even frequently 

 freezes in thr month of January, the natives preserve the 

 young cochini als. by .-overn the nopals with rush mats. 

 The price of the semilla ot grand Jl>ia. which generally 

 does not amount to more th. r hve trancs per pound, fre 

 quently rises there to 18 and '20. 



In several districts of the pr >vince of Oaxaca, they 

 have three cochineal harvests in th- year, ot which the 

 first (that which gives the semiila) is not lucrative, be- 

 cause the mc-ther preserves tor a very sho't time the co- 

 louring juice, if she die* initially ;.t IT having laid. Thig 

 first harvest furniihes tin grana de pa.iile, .,r nest cochi- 

 neal, so called because tin- m> . in -rs an r laying are found 

 in the same nests which have been -nspended to the no 

 pals. Near the town of Oaxaca, the Cochineal is sown 

 VOL. vj. PAUT II. 



in the month of August ; but in the districts of Chon- Cochineal 

 tale, this operation does not take place till the month of ' T~~ 

 October ; and on the coldest table lands not even till the 

 months of November and December. 



The cotton or wild cochineal which gets into the no- 

 paleries, and the male of which, according to the obser- 

 vation of Mr Alzate, is not much smaller than the male 

 of the mealy or fine cochineal, does much injury to the 

 nopals; and accordingly the Indians kill it wherever they 

 find it, though tlie colour which it yields is very solid 

 and very beautiful. It appears that not only the fruits, 

 but also the green branches of several species of cactus, 

 will dye cotton violet and red, and that the colour of the 

 cochineal is not entirely owing to a proce.s of ar.imaliza- 

 tion of the vegetable jmci s in the body of the insect. 



At Nexapa, they nvkbn that in gnod years, one pound 

 of semilla of mealy cochineal pljced on nopals in the 

 month of October, in the month of January yields a har- 

 vest of 12 pounds of mother-cochineals, leaving sufficient 

 semilla on the plant, that is to say, beginning the harvest 

 only when the mothers have already produced the half 

 of their young. This new semilla again produces till the 

 month of May 36 pounds. A' Zimatlan and other vil- 

 lages of Misteca and Xieayan, they scarcely reap more 

 than three or four times the quantity ot cochineal sown. 

 If the south wind, which is very pernicious to the growth 

 of the insect, has not blown long, and the cochineal is 

 not mixed with tlasole, thac is to say, with the spoils of 

 the winged males, it loses only two-thirds of its weight 

 whin dried in the sun. 



The fine and the wild kinds of cochineal appear 

 to contain more of the colouring principle in temperate 

 climates, especially in region- where the mean tem- 

 p-ratine of thr air is 64 and 68 of Fahrenheit. Hum- 

 boldt found the wild cochineal in abundance in the 

 most opposite climates, in the mountains of Riohamba, 

 at 951b feet English of ab^lute elevation and in the 

 plains of the piovince of Jjen de Bracomaros, under a 

 burning sky, between the villages of Tomependa and Cha- 

 maya. 



Around the town of Oaxaca, and especially near O- 

 cotlan, there are plantations (haciendas) which contain 

 from 50 to 60,000, planted in lines like pites or mngueyz 

 de pulque. The greacest part of the cochineal whicn is 

 employed in commerce is. however, produced in small 

 n;jpdli lies belonging to Indians of extreme poverty. The 

 nopal is seldom allowed to grow higher than 47 inches, 

 in order that it may be the more easily cleared of the in- 

 sects which devour the cochineal. The varieties ot the 

 ca* tus which are roughest and most prickly are even pre- 

 ferred, because these arms serve to protect the cochineal 

 from flying insects; and the flower and truit are careful- 

 ly cut, to prevent these insects from depositing their 

 eggs in them. 



The Indians who cultivate the cochineal, and who go 

 by the name of Nopalcros, especially those who live 

 round the town of Oaxaca, follow a v?ry ancient and a 

 very extraordinary practice, that of making the cochineal 

 trawl. In that part of the torrid zone, it ranis in the 

 plains and vallie* from May to October, while in the 

 chain of neighbouring mountains called Sierra de Utepe- 

 je, the rains are only frequent from December to April. 

 Ii> place of presening the insect in the rainy season in 

 the interior of their huts, the Indians place the mother- 

 cochineals, covered with palm leaves, by beds, in baskets 

 made of very flexible claspers. These baskets (canastas) 

 are carried by the Indians on their backs as quickly as 

 possible to the mountains of Istepeje, above the village 

 4x 



