154 ESSAY ON INDIAN CORN. 



if it had been known in Asia, if it had been cultivated by the Turks, 

 how could all these things have happened ? Why was not so useful 

 a grain introduced into Europe before, or why did it spread so rapid- 

 ly when it was introduced ? A somewhat extensive trade was car- 

 ried on between Europe and some of the Asiatic Isles long before 

 the sixteenth century, so that if Indian corn had been known or cul- 

 tivated in Asia, there is every probability that it would have found 

 its way into Europe. The plant called sorghum was known and cul- 

 tivated in Europe and somewhat in Asia and Africa, and this it was 

 with which maize was so often confounded. This, however, was not 

 a species of Indian corn. 



But the strongest evidence of its American origin is, it seems to 

 us, that it has been found growing wild in some parts of the western 

 continent,^ which is not the case in any other part of the world. This 

 alone would seem to prove it to be indigenous to America. We 

 need say nothing of the fact that grains of Indian corn have been 

 found in the mounds of Peru. These mounds were probably built 

 three or four hundred years before the conquest. There can be no 

 doubt therefore that it was cultivated on this continent from time im- 

 memorial. 



But it may now be asked, how are we to explain the numerous al- 

 lusions to a grain, which if not Indian corn, must have nearly re- 

 sembled it ? We have already remarked that many of the asser- 

 tions of the early botanists confounded maize with sorghum. Other 

 allusions, and those by the sacred WTiters, refer to wheat, which was 

 indigenous to Asia, and almost universally cultivated. Mr. St. John 

 admits^ that there was, and still is, in that part of the world, " a 

 very large grained wheat called camel's tooth," which would natur- 

 ally have given rise to the expression, " ears of corn," so often used. 

 The misconceptions of Mr. Cobbett and others in regard to these 

 references, arise from ignorance of the ancient mode of sowing 

 wheat, or corn, as it was universally called by the old writers. Large 

 fields of it were sown, between which a narrow road or path was left 

 for the public. This road was just wide enough for the carriage to 

 pass without injury to the giani, there behig no fences for protection, 



1 A variety has been found in Paraguay which tlie Indians say grows wild in the woods. 



2 History of the manners and customs of ancient Greece, Tom III. p. 407. 



