^8o ULLOA*S VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA. 



Befides the precaution requifite In killing the cochineal, in order to preferve its qua- 

 lity, it is equally neceflary to know when it is in a proper ftate for being removed from 

 the leaves of the nopal ; but, as experience only can teach the cultivator this neceflary 

 criterion no fixed rule can be laid down. Accordingly, in thefe provinces where the 

 cultivation of thefe infeds is chiefly carried on, thofe gathered by Indians of one 

 village differ from thofe gathered in another ; and even thofe gathered by one perfon 

 in the fame village are often different from thofe gathered by another j every individual 

 adhering to his own method. 



The cochineal infeft may in fome circumflances be compared to the filk worm, parti- 

 cularly in the manner of depofiting its eggs. The infers defliined for this particular are 

 taken at a proper time of their growth, and put into a box well clofed, and lined with a 

 coarfe cloth, that none of them be lofl:. In this confinement they lay their eggs and die. 

 The box is kept clofe fliut till the time of placing the eggs on the nopal, when, if any 

 motion is perceived, it is a fuflicient indication that the animalcule has life, though the 

 egg is fo minute as hardly to be perceived; and this is the feed placed on the foliage 

 of the nopal, and the quantity contained in the fliell of a hen*s egg is fuflicient for cover- 

 ing a whole plant. It is remarkable that this infeft does not, or at leafl: in any vifible 

 manner, injure the plant ; but extracts its nourifliment from the mofl: fucculent juice, 

 which it fucks by means of its probofcis through the fine teguments of the leaves. 



The principal countries where the cochineal infeds are bred, are Oaxaca, Flafcala, 

 Ceulula, Nueva Gallicia, and Chiapa in the kingdom of New Spain ; and Hambato, 

 Loja, and Tucuman in Peru. And though the nopal thrives equally in all, yet it is 

 only in Oaxaca that they are gathered in large quantities, and form a branch of com- 

 merce, the cultivation of thefe little creatures being there the chief employment of the 

 Indians ; whereas in others, where the inhabitants take but little trouble in their culti- 

 vation, they breed wild, and thofe gathered in them are accordingly called Grana 

 Sylvellria *. Not that either the infects or nopals are of diflferent fpecies ; for with 

 regard to the difadvantageous difference between the colour of the wild cochineal and 

 that of Oaxaca, it does not proceed from a difference of fpecies, but for want of a 

 proper care in its improvement ; and were the culture every alike, this difference would 

 no longer fubfifl;. But the Indians negleft it, either becaufe no commerce of that 

 kind has been opened among them j or from an averfion to the trouble and attention 

 requifite to bring thofe infedsto perfedion; or, lafl:ly, from the apprehenfion that the 

 fruits of all their time and care may be deftroy ed by one of the above-mentioned accidents. 

 The temperature bell adapted to the produftion of this infed cannot be precifely 

 determined, there being in Oaxaca, as well as in the province of Quito, parts of very 

 different temperatures, fome hot, fome temperate, and others cold ; yet all breed the 

 cochineal. It is, however, very probable, that the niofl: proper climate is the temperate 

 and dry ; becaufe in thefe the nopal thrives the beft. And agreeably to this obferva- 

 tion it k remarked, that Hambato and Loja are the countries in the province of Quito 

 where they moil abound ; though they are alfo feen in other parts, where both the 

 heat and cold are greater. 



Here I cannot help, obferving, that Andalufia in Spain appears to me extremely well 

 fituated for breeding cochineal, both from the nature of the climate, and the plantation of 

 fig trees, which there attain fo great perfection. Here alfo neither frofl:s, fogs, or fnows, 

 are to be apprehended, particularly in fpring ; and the happy medium between cold 

 and heat is, as I have before obferved, that which this creature is particularly fond of, 



* Thb wild cochineal is generally known in England by the name of cochineal meftitjue. 



Th« 



