ESSEX SOCIETY. Ill 



the assertions of the early botanists confounded maize with 

 sorghum. Other allusions, and those by the sacred writers, 

 refer to wheat, which was indigenous to Asia, and almost uni- 

 versally cultivated. Mr. St. John admits* that there was, and 

 still is, in that part of the world, " a very large grained wheat, 

 called camel's tooth," which would naturally have given rise to 

 the expression, "ears of corn," so often used. The misconcep- 

 tions of Mr. Cobbett and others in regard to these references, 

 arise from ignorance of the ancient mode of sowing wheat, or 

 corn, as it was universally called by the old writers. Large 

 fields of it were sown, between which, a narrow road or path 

 was left for the public. This road was just wide enough for 

 the carriage to pass without injury to the grain, there being no 

 fences for protection, so that it might literally be called " going 

 through the cornfields." It was sometimes gathered with the 

 sickle, sometimes, by passing through it and plucking off the 

 heads or ears, the reaper having an apron or pouch to drop them 

 into. 



Neither wheat nor rice were known to the first inhabitants 

 of America, and we may with as much truth, say that Indian 

 corn and the potato, were neither cultivated in Asia, nor the 

 South Sea Islands. 



It is well known, that maize was introduced into Japan by 

 the Chinese.! But there are no grounds for believing, that the 

 Chinese themselves, possessed it until the sixteenth century. 

 We persist then, with Humboldt, in believing that maize was 

 not transported from the centre of Asia to the table lands of 

 Mexico. And, moreover, if we suppose that it was thus trans- 

 ported from Asia, how are we to account for the infinite varie- 

 ties found in America, which, most certainly, were not found 

 in Asia ? Is it not more natural to suppose it to have originated 

 where every variety of it was found, than where only one or two 

 varieties, and those doubtful ones, were ever known to grow 

 before the discovery of America by the Europeans ? We may 

 remark, also, that if we suppose that a species of maize was 

 actually known in Central Asia, or to the Chinese, it may have 



* History of the manners and customs of Ancient Greece, Tom. III., p. 407. 

 t Thunberg, Flora Japonica, p. 37. 



