334 REVIEWS. 



region in which they were found ; and (3) that they became 

 known only under American names ; one of these names 

 (Squash) becoming, in popular use, generic, and two others 

 (M acock and Cushaw) surviving, as names of varieties, into 

 tbe present century. 



To present this evidence as nearly as possible in the order 

 of time, we refer, first, to the relation of the first voyage of 

 Columbus. December 3, 1492, entering a small river [the 

 Rio Bonia], near the eastern end of the island of Cuba, he 

 found near it a populous Indian village, and saw large culti- 

 vated fields " planted with many things of the country, and 

 calabazas, a glorious sight (que era gloria vella) ! " See 

 Navarrete, Colec, i. 225. It is not certain that these " cal- 

 abazas" were not bottle-gourds (Lagenaria), but it is, to say 

 the least, highly inrprobable that the enthusiasm of Columbus 

 would have been so kindled by the promise of a harvest of 

 little value to Europeans. 



Oviedo (Historia, 1. xi. c. 1) names among plants and seeds 

 brought from Spain to Hispaniola " melones " and " pepinos " 

 — of which imported varieties were already abundant in the 

 island before 1535 ; the seed of " cogombros " brought from 

 Castile had not succeeded so well. 



In July, 1528, Cabeca de Vaca found near Tampa Bay, in 

 Florida, "maize, beans, and pumpkins in great plenty, and 

 beginning to be fit for gathering." In 1535-6, when passing 

 through Texas, the Indians supplied him with prickly pears 

 and, occasionally, maize ; but after crossing " a great river 

 coming from the north ' ' — probably the Rio Grande — he 

 and his companions came to a region having " fine dwellings 

 of civilization, whose inhabitants lived on beans and pump- 

 kins" — and, when the season was not too dry for raising it, 

 maize (Relacion, 1542 ; translated by B. Smith, 1871). 



In the summer and autumn of 1539, De Soto found the 

 Appalachian country, in western Florida, well supplied with 

 " maize, beans (fesoles) and pumpkins (calabaeas) ; " the 

 pumpkins of Uzachil were " better and more savory than 

 those of Spain ; " there were " fields of maize, beans, and 

 pumpkins," not far from Tampa Bay, where he first landed 



