110 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



that the first Europeans who set foot on the New World, 

 saw, among other wonders, a gigantic wheat with long stalks, 

 and that this wonderful wheat was the maize. The harvesting 

 of it was celebrated by the people with religious festivals. 

 Sacrifices were prepared with it. With it the Mexicans formed 

 idols. It constituted almost the only food for all the tribes in 

 Mexico, in Peru, in Brazil, at the Orinoco and the Antilles. It 

 served for money. A theft of seven ears, the Mexican laws 

 punished with death. 



It is a still more curious fact, that immediately after its intro- 

 duction into Europe, it spread with great rapidity into every 

 country and province where the climate was thought to be 

 suited to it. Now, if it had been known in Asia, if it had 

 been cultivated by the Turks, how could all these things have 

 happened ? Why was not so useful a grain introduced into 

 Europe before, or why did it spread so rapidly when it was 

 introduced ? A somewhat extensive trade was carried on be- 

 tween Europe and some of the Asiatic Isles, long before the 

 sixteenth century, so that, if Indian corn had been known or 

 cultivated in Asia, there is every probability that it would have 

 found its way into Europe. The plant called sorghum^ was 

 known and cultivated in Europe, and somewhat in Asia and 

 Africa, and this it was, with which maize was so often con- 

 founded. This, however, was not a species of Indian corn. 



But the strongest evidence of its American origin is, it seems 

 to us, that it has been found growing wild in some parts of the 

 western continent, * which is not the case in any other part of 

 the world. This alone would seem to prove it to be indigenous 

 to America. We need say nothing of the fact, that grains of 

 Indian corn have been found in the mounds of Peru. These 

 mounds were probably built three or four hundred years before 

 the conquest. There can be no doubt, therefore, that it was 

 cultivated on this continent from time immemorial. 



But it may now be asked, how are we to explain the numer- 

 ous allusions to a grain, which, if not Indian corn, must have 

 nearly resembled it ? We have already remarked, that many of 



* A variety has been found in Paraguay, which the Indians say grows wild in the woods. 



