STURTEV ant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 6l I 



In South America, in 1498. maize was brought to Columbus ' off the coast of Venezuela. 

 In 1541, Benzoni ^ speaks of the wine of maize, made in the region of the Gulf of Paria. 

 Hans Stade,' about 1550, during his captivity in eastern Brazil, speaks of maize under 

 the names abaty, abatij, abashi, ubatim, and milhe deGuine. In 1520, Magellan found maize 

 at Rio Janeiro, and, in 1647, Nienhoff * says it was called maiz by the Indians. In 1596, 

 Masham ^ says that in Guiana there " is great store of Guiny- wheat (whereof they make 

 pas.sing good drinke) which after it is once sowed, if you cut off the eare, in the same stalke 

 groweth another." Dobrizhofifer,' 1749-67, speaks of several kinds grown in Paraguay: 

 the best known, the ahati hata, composed of very hard grains; the abati ntoroti, which con- 

 sists of very soft and white ones; the abati miri, which ripens in one month and has very 

 small, dwarfish grains; and bisingallo, the most famous of all, the grains of which are 

 angular and pointed. On the western coast, maize was found by Cavendish' in 1587 

 at the Isle of Mocha and on the coast of Chile. In 1649, Alonzo de Ovalle ' says the 

 ordinary diet of the people of Chile is boiled maize. Molina,' 1787, says eight or nine 

 varieties are cultivated, one called curagua having smaller grains than the other varieties. 

 This seems to have been a pop com, as under Zea curagua, the Valparaiso com, Loudon '" 

 says a distinct variety, to which a sort of religious reputation is attached, on account of 

 the grains which, when roasted, split regularly in the form of a cross. 



In Peru, Squier " found in an ancient burial place ears of maize, thick, short and 

 variegated, and a very good carving in a variegated talc of an ear of maize three inches 

 long and of just proportions, besides one jar filled with maize. Tschudi ^ describes two 

 kinds which were taken from tombs, apparently dating back to the dynasty of the Incas. 

 Darwin " fotmd on the coast, at 85 feet elevation, embedded amidst shells, a head of Indian 

 com, apparently identical with those taken from the old Peruvian tombs. Garcilasso 

 de la Vega '* says there are two kinds of sara, the Inca name for maize, the one hard and 

 called muruchu, the other tender and called capia. De la Vega " sa)^ the Peruvians made 

 a beverage from the stalks before they were ripe. 



So much was this grain esteemed that the palace gardens of the Incas were decorated 

 with maize in gold and silver, with all the grains, stalks, spikes, leaves, and, in one instance, 

 in " the gardens of gold and silver " there was an entire com field of some size, representing 



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



Benzoni Hist. New World. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 21:9. 1857. 



* Captiv. Hans Stade. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 51:49. 1874. 



* Churchill CoW. Koy. 2:135. '732. 



'Masham Raleigh's Third Voy. Guiana. Hakl. Voy. 11:14. 1904. 



* Dobrizhoffer Acct. Abipone 1:425. 1749-67. 

 '' Lives, Voy. Drake. Cavendish I T,2. 1854. 



' Churchill CoW. Koy. 3:73. 1732. 



Molina Hjj/. CMi 1:90. 1808. 

 " Loudon, J. C. Enc. Agr. 829. 1866. 

 "Squier, E.G. Peru gi. 1877. 

 "Darwin, C. Ans. Pis. Domest. 1:338. 1893. 

 " Darwin, C. Voy. H. M. S. Beagle 370. 1884. 

 " V^a Roy. Comment. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 2:355. 1871- 

 " V^a Roy. Comment. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 2:357. 1871. 



