USES OF THE MAIZE PLANT 165 



bigness. The sand is separated by a wire sieve, and returned 

 into the pot to be again heated, and repeat the operation with 

 fresh grain. That which is parched is pounded to a powder in a 

 mortar. This being sifted will keep long for use. An Indian 

 will travel far and subsist long on a small bag of it, taking only 

 six or eight ounces of it per day mixed with water. The flour 

 of maize mixed with that of wheat makes excellent bread, 

 sweeter and more agreeable than that of wheat alone. To feed 

 horses it is good to soak the grain twelve hours : they mash it 

 easier with their teeth, and it yields them more nourishment. 

 The leaves stripped off the stalks after the grain is ripe, tied up 

 in bundles when dry, are excellent forage for horses, cows, &c. 

 The stalks, pressed like sugar-cane, yield a sweet juice, which, 

 being fermented and distilled, yields an excellent spirit ; boiled 

 without fermentation it affords an excellent syrup. In Mexico 

 fields are sown with it thick that multitudes of small stalks 

 may arise, which, being cut from time to time, like asparagus, 

 are served in desserts, their thin sweet juice being extracted in 

 the mouth by chewing them. The meal wetted is excellent 

 food for young chickens and the old grain for grown fowls." 



In addition to the many uses enumerated by Franklin, the 

 Indians in Peru and Mexico prepare a kind of beer, by first 

 moistening the grains of maize to promote germination, then 

 drying them in the oven, pounding them, and finally boiling 

 them in water and causing the decoction to ferment. The some- 

 what sharp and bitter taste of the chicha or maize-beer is 

 generally displeasing to strangers, but the Peruvians are all of 

 them determined chicheros, and assemble every evening in their 

 filthy taverns for the enjoyment of this detestable beverage. On 

 dirty plates, that generally remain unwashed from the time they 

 first were used, their favourite 'picantes or stews, well seasoned 

 with Cayenne, are served to these unsophisticated guests. Instead 

 of bread, a portion of roasted maize is either set before them in 

 small pumpkin-bowls, or cast without ceremony upon the greasy 

 table. The chicha itself is presented in large glasses, on whose 

 unclean rim each consumer is able to see the marks of his 

 predecessor's lips. 



As maize contains but very little gluten,- some theorists have 

 been inclined to set but a small value on its nutritive power, but 

 this is an error which is sufficiently refuted by facts. Domestic 



