STURTEV ant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 617 



no maize was found or was believed to exist at the time of the visit of the Perry expedition,' 

 although it is mentioned as being there by Hall,^ 1818, and by Belcher,' 1848. Roxburgh * 

 says com is cultivated in different parts of India in gardens but nowhere on a large scale. 

 Firminger ' says com has now become thoroughly naturalized in all parts of India but 

 seems to be much degenerated as compared with that raised from seed annually brought 

 from America. Dutt * says com has no Sanscrit name but is largely cultivated in Bihar 

 and upper India. Ebn Barthon,' an Arab physician of the thirteenth century, who 

 traveled extensively in Asia, makes no mention of any plant which appears to be maize.' 

 Friar Odorri,' who traveled in 13 16-1330 to China, makes no mention of maize, nor does 

 Monticorvino,'" 1292-1338. Batuta," who traveled from 1325 to 1355, mentions in 

 China almost every cultivated product but not maize. Varthema," who in 1503-8 visited 

 Egypt, Arabia, Persia, India and Ethiopia, mentions many fruits and vegetables but 

 makes no reference to maize. Forskal," in 1774, found maize cultivated in the mountains 

 of Yemen but the mention of com as coming from Arabia is made by Bock, 1532, Ruellius, 

 1536 and Fuchsius, 1542, as has been mentioned before. 



Barbot " in his Description of the Coast of Guinea says the Portuguese first enriched 

 these African countries with the Indian wheat, or maize, bringing the seed from the 

 Island of St. Thomas in the bight of Guinea, to the Gold Coast. He says there are two 

 sorts, the red and the white. In the early part of the sixteenth centiuy, a Portuguese 

 writing, translated into Italian and inserted in Ramusio's collections (Ramusio died in 

 1557, and the publication of his collection began in 1550), states that at St. Jago, Cape 

 de Verde Islands, " they sow a grain called Zaburso, the same that grows in the West Indies 

 under the name of maize. This grain is as common on the coast of Africa as in these 

 islands and is the chief sustenance of both these countries. They gather their crop in 

 forty days." About 1550, Hans Stade'^ uses the words zaburso and milho de Guine, and, 

 in 1586, Heriot " speaks of " Guinea wheat," a striking commentary on the extent of its 

 distribution in that portion of Africa. In 1593, Hawkins i' found at the Canary Islands 



Perry Japan 2 : 33 . 1 852-54. 



Ibid. 



' Ibid. 



Roxbiu-gh, W. Fl. Ind. y.56?,. 1832. 



' Firminger, T. A. C. Card. Ind. 3:111. 1874. 



Dutt, U. C. Mai. Med. Hindus 270. 1877. 



' De Candolle, A. Ceog. Bol. 2:948. 1855. 



Ibid. 



Cathay, Way Thither. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 1866. 

 "Ibid. 

 " Ibid. 



" Jones, J. W. Trav. Varthema. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 1863. 

 " Forskal, P. Ft. Aeg. Arab. LXXV. 1775. 

 "ChurchiU CoM. Foy. 5:196. 1746. 

 " Captiv. Hans Stade. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 49. 1874. 

 " Pinkerton Colt. Voy. 12:595. 1812. 

 "Hawkins, R. Voy. So. Seas. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 1:48. 1847. 



