126 INSECT MANUFACTURES. 



it to remain one, two, or three minutes. The 

 water is preserved, as it necessarily has some of 

 the colouring matter of the insects ; the latter are 

 spread out to dry in the sun and wind, being 

 turned occasionally by hand. Ten persons, it is 

 said, can thus prepare two hundred pounds of 

 cochineal in two days. Such is the history given 

 by de Menonville himself, in his volumes entitled 

 ( Voyage a Guaxaca' Baron Humboldt, describing 

 the management of cochineals in this and in other 

 parts of South America, gives some additional 

 particulars. He ascertained that in a colder cli- 

 mate, the colour of the cochineal is equally fine, 

 but the harvests are more uncertain. Plains or 

 valleys are generally more favourable to the rapid 

 increase of the cochineals than elevated ground, 

 but such places also abound in insect enemies, and 

 in lizards, rats, and birds, which devour the crop. 

 Great care is required in clearing all the joints of 

 the nopals : for this purpose Indian women use a 

 squirrel's or a stag's tail, and will sit for hours 

 crouched near a single plant. Notwithstanding 

 the high price of cochineal, it is very doubtful 



