sturtevant's notes on edible plants 615 



com." The Indians on the Delaware were very fond of hasty pudding, which they called 

 sappaun, and Campanius ' relates that the sachems and other Indians were feasted upon 

 it in 1654. In 1680, Hennepin^ found com everywhere in his journey from Niagara to 

 the Mississippi River. Marquette,' 1673, Allouez,^ 1676, and Membre,^ 1679, all mention 

 the cultivation of com by the Illinois Indians. The Mandan Indians, according to Catlin,^ 

 cultivate a variety whose ears are not longer than a man's thumb. The Tuscarora corn 

 is thought to be the variety cultivated by the North Carolina Indians upon the settlement 

 of their country and was introduced into the State of New York in 1712, when the Tuscarora 

 Indians migrated thither. The com raised by the Yakima Indians of Washington is an 

 eight-rowed variety, small and attenuated, the ears not over five inches long. 



We thus see that the cultiu-e of com was general in the New World at the time of the 

 discovery; that it reigned from Brazil to Canada, from Chile to California; that it was 

 grown extensively in fields; and that it had produced many varieties always an indication 

 of antiquity of culture. It furnished food in its grain, and, from its stalks, sugar to the 

 Peruvians, honey to the Mexicans and a kind of wine or beer to all the natives of the tropics. 



In Etirope, maize is said by Benzoni,'' who wrote in 1572, to have been brought with 

 Colmnbus on his return from America to Spain, along with parrots and other new Indian 

 articles. Descourlitz, ' 1829, asserts that maize was introduced by the Spaniards from 

 Peru. There is a statement that it came to the northern provinces of Spain, across the 

 Isthmus of Panama, brought by Basques who accompanied Pizarro to Peru. But Oviedo ' 

 states in his work, printed in 1525, says Boussingault,'" that he had seen com growing 

 in Andalusia and the neighborhood of Madrid, and the Spaniards under Pizarro landed 

 at Tvimbez, for the conquest, only in 1532. Yet it could not have been generally known 

 in Spain, for Hernandez," who returned to Europe from Mexico in 1571 or 1593 (the 

 authorities differ), in a long chapter on maize, expresses indignation that the Spaniards 

 had not yet introduced into their country so useful a plant. The Haitian name of mahiz 

 and the Peruvian name of sara, both used in Spain, without indicating a date, perhaps 

 indicate its introduction from both coimtries. Gerarde,''' 1 597, writes that maize was brought 

 to Spain out of America and the islands adjoining, as out of Florida and Virginia, but the 

 old herbalist need not be expected to be very accurate in his histories. 



In Germany, com is mentioned by Bock," or Tragus as he is often called, who is one 



'Hazard, S. Annals Pa. 152. 1850. 

 'Hennepin Voy. Reprint Amer. Antiq. Soc. i : 66. 1820. 

 Flagg, W. C. Agr. III. 13:301. 

 Ibid. 

 Ibid. 



Catlin, G. No. Amer. Indians 1:121. 1842. 

 ' Benzoni ffii<. New World. 1572. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 23. 1857. 

 Descourlitz, M. E. Fl. Antill. 8:57. 1829. 

 Brewer U. S. Census y.g^. 1880. 

 " Boussingault, J. B. Rur. Econ. 179. I865. 

 " De Candolle, A. Ceog. Bot. 2:946. 1855. 

 "Gerade, J. Herb. 77. 1597. 

 " Bonafoxis Hist. Nat. Mais 11. 1836. 



