ESSEX SOCIETY. 109 



And first, let us say, that though we should consider it no 

 small gift of the New World to the Old, it is not difficult, on a 

 question which does not affect either personal or national 

 honor, to free our minds from prejudice and partiality, and 

 study with a desire to ascertain and establish the truth. We 

 are not convinced by the assertions of some, or by the argu- 

 ments of Bonafous and others, to prove that maize originated 

 in the east. They have not made out a satisfactory case. It 

 should be borne in mind, that the authority of the early writers 

 is not always to be relied upon. They possessed none of the 

 advantages which modern science has laid open, to pursue their 

 investigations. They could not be accurate on questions of 

 this nature. It is very probable that maize came into Europe 

 by way of Turkey and the Levant, which gave it the name 

 which it then bore, of Turkish wheat, &c., and which would 

 be likely to deceive a naturalist of the sixteenth century, in re- 

 gard to its origin. Then, it is very easy to conceive, how a 

 careless statement made by a writer three hundred years ago, 

 would be taken on his authority, and thus gain a credit which 

 it did not deserve. Instances of this occur on almost every 

 page of the old historical writers, as any one who is at all 

 familiar with the works of Sir Thomas More and the old 

 chroniclers, can testify. 



It is a remarkable fact, that maize is not mentioned by trav- 

 ellers who visited Asia and Africa before the discovery of 

 America. These travellers to foreign parts, were often very 

 minute in their descriptions of the productions of the soil. 

 But the maize was never described in Europe until after the 

 discovery. This, most certainly argues very strongly, that it 

 was not known. 



It is also a remarkable fact, that it was universally cultivated 

 on the western continent at the time when the Europeans 

 landed here. This is proved by P. Martyr,* Ercilla,t Jean de 

 Lery, J not to mention Torquemada <§> and others, who tell us 



* De Orbe novo decades. III., 1516. 



t Alonzo de Ercilla, Araucana, Madrid : 1577. 



t Historia d'un voyage fait en la terre du Brisil, 1723. 



§ Delia Monarquia Indiana Tom. I., p. 158. 



