6i2 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



the maize in its natural shape. De la Vega ' notices the curious workmanship with which 

 the golden ear was half-disclosed amidst the broad leaves of silver and the light tassel 

 of the same material that floated gracefully from its top. At Titiaca, the sacred temple 

 was surrounded with broad fields of maize, which imbibed a portion of its sanctity, and the 

 yearly produce was distributed among the different public magazines, in small quantities 

 to each, as something that would sanctify the remainder of the store.' Acosta' says 

 they take a certain portion of the most fruitful of the maize that grows on their farms, 

 " the which they put in a certain grenier which they do call Pirua, with certain ceremonies, 

 watching them nights: they put this Mays in the richest garment they have, and being 

 thus wrapped and dressed, they worship this Pirua and hold it in great veneration, saying 

 it is the mother of the Mays of their inheritance, and that by this means the mays augments 

 and is preserved." Rivers and Tschudi say, " the corn-stalks with many ears or with 

 double ears were considered as sacred things but not as Deities: they were called by the 

 Indians Hirantazara, or Aryherazara, because they danced with the dance Arihuay, when 

 the com was suspended by branches of willow; in the same way did they worship the ears, 

 the grains of which were of various colors, or were arranged in rows, imited in the shape 

 of a cone." 



In 1532-50, Cieza de Leon ^ found maize abundant in fields, requiring four months 

 for its growth. Gibbon,' 1851, describes the com at Tarma as being small-grained and 

 of four colors: red, white, yellow and blue. Hemdon * says, on the Montana, three crops 

 are made in a year. On the Island of Titraca, says Squier,^ the stalks of the maize are 

 scarcely three feet high, and the ears, not longer than one's finger, are closely covered with 

 compact, vitreous grains. On the coast of Peru, sajre de la Vega,' the sowing is done by 

 the ancient Peruvians, " by making holes with thick stakes, into which they put the heads 

 of fish together with two or three grains of maize." This seems to be the same method 

 now in vogue among the Indians in some parts of Mexico and as described in part by 

 Bancroft, ' for the ancient Aztecs. 



The first mention of corn in the present territory of the United States and Canada, 

 seems to have been in the Icelandic Sagas. At Hop, supposed by Prof. Rafn ' to be in 

 the vicinity of Tatmton River, Massachusetts, Karlsefne, in 1006, " foimd there upon the 

 land self sown fields of wheat, there where the ground was low but vines there where it 

 rose somewhat."" ICarlsefne '^ is said to have sent out two Scotch people to explore and 



' V^a Roy. Comment. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 1:283. 1869. 

 *Ve%3i Roy. Comment. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 1:288. 1869. 

 ' Acosta Nat. M.-r. Hist. Ind. 403. 1604. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 1880. 



* Markham, C. R. Trav. Cieza de Leon. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 33:55. 1864 



* Hemdon, W. L.. and Gibbon, L. Explor. Vail. Amaz. 2:1. 1854. 



Hemdon, W. L., and Gibbon, L. Explor. Vail. Amaz. 1:86. 1854. 

 'Squier, E. G. Peru 341. 1877. 



' Vega. Roy. Comment. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 2:13. 1871. 



Bancroft, H. H. Native Races 1:625. 1875. 



^'' Rafn Voy. Northmen Amer. Prince Soc. Ed. 116. 1877. 

 " Karlsefne Voy. Northmen Amer. Prince Soc. Ed. 51. 1877. 

 " Ibid. 



