478 ULLOA*S VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA. 



than what they imagine will be fufficient for the dyers in that and the neighbouring ju- 

 rifdidion of Cuenca. To this elegant and lafting colour it is probably owing that the 

 bays of Cuenca, and the carpets of Loja, are preferred to all others : though the 

 beauty of the colours may in forae meafure proceed from the fuperior fkill of the work- 

 men of Loja and Cuenca, over thofe of Quito and other parts of the province where 

 the fame goods are manufadured. The cochineal is alfo bred in the department of 

 Hambato, though without any conftant gatherings of that infeft. It is not, however, 

 to be doubted, but that a more careful attention would enfure them the fame fuccefs in 

 great as in fmall quantities. 



Having mentioned this infed, fo highly valued in every part of the world for the 

 incomparable beauty of its red, which it equally communicates to wool, filk, linen, 

 and cotton, it may be expeded that I Ihould give fome farther account of it ; and' as 

 I Ihould be forry to difappoint any rational curiofity of my readers, and at the fame 

 time to infert any thing that is not ftridtly true, I was unwilling to rely wholly on my 

 own experience; together with the accounts 1 procured at Loja and Hambato, ef- 

 pecially as Oaxaca is the principal place where this infe£t is produced, I made it my 

 bufmefs to confult perfons well acquainted with the fubjed, and received the following 

 account, in which they all unanimoufly agreed. 



The cochineal is bred on a plant known in Oaxaca, and all thofe parts where it 

 abounds, by the name of Nofpal *, or Nopalleca, the Indian fig-tree, which, except 

 in the difference of the foliage, refembles the tunos, fo common in the kingdom of 

 Andalufia. The leaf of the tuna being broad, flat, and prickly ; and that of the 

 nopal, oblong, with feveral eminences ; and inftead of fpines, has a fine fmooth mem- 

 brane, of a fine permanent and lively green. 



The method of planting the nopal is by making rows of holes, about half a yard 

 deep, and about two yards diftant from one another. In each of thefe holes is placed 

 one or two leaves of the nopal, in a flat pofition, and then covered with earth. This 

 leaf foon after fhoots up into a fmgle flem, which during its growth divides into feveral 

 branches, and thefe fucceffively produce frefh leaves, the largefl being neareft to the 

 ftem, which is full of knots, as are alfo the branches, and from thefe the leaves have 

 their origin. The ufual height of this plant is about three yards, which it feldom ex- 

 ceeds. The feafon when the nopal difplays all its beauty and vigour is, like that of 

 other plants, from the fpring to the autumn, which at Oaxaca, and other parts of 

 North America, is at the fame time as in Spain. Its bloffom is fmall, of a bright red, 

 and in the fhape of a bud, from the centre of which proceeds the tuna, a name given 

 to its fruit ; and as this increafes, the bloffom fades, till at length it falls. When the 

 tuna, or fig, is ripe, the outward fkin becomes white ; but the pulp is fo fully im- 

 pregnated with a deep red, that it tinges of a blood colour the urine of thofe who eat 

 it ; a circumftance of no fmall uneafmefs to thofe who are unacquainted with this par- 

 ticular. Few fruits, however, are either more wholefome or pleafant. 



The ground where the nopal is intended to be planted mull be carefully cleanfed 

 from all kinds of weeds, as they drain the foil of thofe juices which the nopal re- 

 quires. Alfo after the cochineal is taken from the plant, which is never done till the 

 infeds are arrived at perfedion, all the fuperfluous leaves are plucked off, that they 

 may be fucceeded by others the following year. For it mufl be obferved, that the 



* This plant is called by botanifts, Opuntla maxima, folio oblongo rotunda major ei/ptnuUs obtujis mollihus 

 et innocentibus objito, jlorejlrm rubris variegato. Sloane's Catalogue. 



cochineal 



