6io sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



a statue in Mexico upon whose base, among other things, are sculptured representations 

 -of ears of com. 



Maize was seen first by Europeans on the mainland, in 1498, on the shore of the Gulf 

 of Paria, where the natives brought to the ships maize and a beverage made therefrom.' In 

 1503, Diego Bartholemew' "saw above six leagues of ground full of maize and culti- 

 vated." As for liquor, he says, " they have plenty of a very palatable kind of beer made 

 of maez." Vasco Nunez,* is 13. speaks of maize at Darien. In 1520, the Spaniards in their 

 battle with the Tepeacans were embarrassed by the tall maize that covered part of the plain. 

 Cortez * also found com in Honduras in plantations and everywhere throughout Yucatan, 

 where it had previously been seen by Columbus ' in 1502. In this region, Morelet,' more 

 than three centuries later found the plains covered with maize often seven to eight metres 

 in height. Among the varieties cultivated in Mexico, Humboldt ' mentions one in which 

 the ear ripens in two months after planting; Oviedo ' mentions one in Nicaragua which 

 is reaped in between 30 and 40 days from planting. 



The first com seen by Europeans was by Colimibus, in November, 1492, in Cuba, 

 " a kind of grain called maiz, of which was made a very well-tasted flour."' Peter Martyr," 

 in his First Decade, said by Robertson to have been written in 1493, says, " the panicum 

 of this country is longer by a spanne, somewhat sharpe towards the ende and as bygge 

 as a man's arme in ye brawne: the grains whereof are set in a marvellous manner and are 

 in forme somewhat lyke a Pease. Whyle they be soure and vmripe, they are whyte but 

 when they are ripe, they be very blacke, and when they be broken, they be whiter then 

 snowe: this kynde of grayne they call maizim." In his Third Decade he adds, "bearing 

 also more than a thousand graynes." Acosta," strangely enough, says that this grain 

 occurred on the mainland but that he did " not find that in old time, on the islands of 

 Barloventa, as Cuba, S. Dominique, Jamaigue, and S. Jean, that they used mayo." 

 Gomara,'^ however, asserts that the islanders were acquainted with maize and Oviedo 

 describes maize without any intimation of its being a plant that was not natural to 

 Hispaniola. In 1564, Hawkins " found maize at Margarita Island " in bigness of a pease, 

 the eare whereof is much like to a teasell but a span in length, having thereon a niunber 

 of grains." 



' Irving, W. Columbus 2:116. 1849. 

 ' Harshberger, J. W. Maize 137. 1893. 

 ' Andagoya, P. de. Narrative. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 29. 1 865. 

 Prescott, W. H. Conq. Mex. 3:284. 1843. 

 ' Irving, W. Columbus 2:335. 1849. 

 Morelet Trav. Cent. Amer. 326. 1871. 

 ' Humboldt, A. Polit. Essay New Spain 2:313. 181 1. 

 Ibid. 



Knox Coll. Voy. 1:83. 1767. 

 ^'' Eden Hist. Trav. 10. 1577. 



" Acosta Nat. Mar. Hist. Ind. 254. 1604. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 1880. 

 " Pickering, C. Geog. Dist. Ans. Pis. Pt. 1:135. 1863. 

 " Hawkins Second Voyage. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 57:27. 1877. 



