248 PRICKLY PEARS AND COCHINEAL. 



for first there grows one leafe out of the ground, then 

 another vpon it, and so one vpon one, till it commeth to his 

 perfection ; but as the leaves grow vp and on the sides, 

 those vnderneath doe become great, and loose in a manner 

 the forme of leaves, making a bodie and braunches, which 

 are sharpe, pricking and deformed, so as in some places they 

 doe call it a Thistle. There are thistles or wilde Tunalls, 

 the which do carry no fruite, or else it is very pricking, 

 without any profit. There are likewise planted Tunalls 

 which yeelde fruite much esteemed amongst the Indians, 

 the which they call Tunas, and they are much greater then 

 Plumbes, and long. They open the shell which is fatte, 

 and within it is meate and small graines, like to those of 

 figges, which be very sweete ; they have a good taste, 

 especially the white, which have a pleasing smell, but the 

 red are not vsually so good. There is another sorte of 

 Tunalls which they esteeme much more, although it 

 yeeldes no fruit, yet it beares an other commoditie and 

 profit, for certayne small wormes breede in the leaves 

 of this tree, when it is well husbanded, and aro there- 

 vnto fastned, covered with a certaine small fine web, 

 which doth compasse them in daintily ; and this is that 

 Indian Cochinillc so famous, and wherewith they dye. 

 They let it drie, and being dried, carry it into Spaine, 

 which is a great and rich marchandise. The arroba of this 

 Cochinille or graine is worth many ducats. In the fleete, 

 the yeare 1587, they did bring five thousand sixe hundred 

 seventy seven arrobas, which amounted to two hundred 

 foure score three thousand seven hundred and fifty peeces, 

 and commonly there conies every yeare as great a wealth. 



These Tunalls grow in temperate grounds inclining to 

 colde. In Peru there growes none to this day, I have 

 seene some plants in Spaine, but they deserve not estima 

 tion. I will speake something likewise of the Anir, 

 although it comes not from a tree, but from an hearb, for 



