INDIAN CORN. 17 



habitable globe, between the forty-third degree of north 

 latitude, and a corresponding parallel south. Its prin- 

 ciple culture is confined to the United States, Mexico, 

 the West Indies, and most of the states of South 

 America., It is also cultivated with success in Spain, 

 Portugal, Lombardy, and may be grown in southern 

 Europe generally. It is likewise found to thrive in 

 India, China, Japan, Australia, the Sandwich Islands, 

 as well as in the groups of the Azores, the Madeiras, 

 Canaries, and numerous other ocean isles. 



Roulin, Humboldt, Bonpland, and others, have 

 noticed this plant in its indigenous state in America, 

 and hence have concluded that it was first derived from 

 this country. Mathioli, Ciega, Zeri, and Inca Garci- 

 lasso, have also confirmed this opinion. Fuchs, on the 

 contrary, very early maintained that it came from the 

 East. Michaud, Daru, and Bonafous, state that it was 

 known in Asia Minor before the discovery of America ; 

 and Crawford, in his " History of the Indian Archi- 

 pelago," tells us that maize was cultivated by the in- 

 habitants of these islands, under the name of djagoung, 

 long before that period. In the " Natural History of 

 China," composed by Li-Chi Tchin, towards the middle 

 of the XVIth century, a rude figure is given of the 

 Zea mays, under the title of la-chou-cha ; and Rifaud, 

 in his "Voyage en Egypte, &c., from 1805 to 1807," 

 observes, that he discovered this grain in a subterranean 

 excavation in a remarkably good state of preservation. 

 M. Virey, however, in the " Journal de Pharmacie," 

 refutes these statements, by showing that these authors 

 have mistaken the Indian millet ( Sorghum vulgare) for 

 maizo, and that the grain found by Rifaud, was the 

 Sorghum bicolor, which, according to Delile, is a native 

 of Egypt. Regmir and Gregory attempt to present 

 fresh arguments in favour of the Eastern origin of this 

 plant. Among them is the name by which it has long 

 been known in Europe, BU de Tarquie ; and varieties 

 of it, they state, have been brought from the Isle of 

 France, or from China. Moreau de Jonnes, on the 

 contrary, has more recently maintained in a memoir 



9 



