ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 321 



Peter Martyr (1493) describing the food of tlie islanders, 

 names "lucca, from which they make bread " (Dec. i. lib. 1, 

 p. 7 ; ed. 1574) ; in the third book of his second decade 

 (p. 148) he mentions lucca, Ajes, and Maiz, as the three 

 plants used by the natives for bread ; in the third decade 

 (lib. 5, p. 262) he describes the mode of the propagation by 

 cuttings, of cultivation, and of the preparation of " Cazabbi " 

 from the root ; and he states that " there are many kinds of 

 ' iucca ' " (p. 263). Oviedo (Historia, lib. 7, c. 2) describes 

 " the bread of the Indians that is called ' ca(;abi,' " which 

 is " made from a plant they call ' yuca,' " and he distinguishes 

 two species of the plant. Acosta (Hist, of the Indies, transl. 

 by E. G. ; Ilakluyt Soc. ed., p. 232, 1588-90) gave a good 

 account of the plant "yuca," and the kind of bread made 

 from it, called " cagavi." 



Peter Martyr (Dec. iii. lib. 9, p. 301) relates the Haytian 

 tradition of the origin of the cultivation of " yuca " in their 

 island. " They say that a ' Boitius ' [^. e., magus, or diviner], 

 a wise old man, after the lapse of many years, saw, on the 

 banks of a river, a plant that was like a cane ; pulling it from 

 the earth, he made this wild plant a cultivated one. He who 

 first ate the ' lucca ' raw, quickly died. But because its taste 

 was sweet, they determined that a way of using it should be 

 diligently sought for. When roasted or boiled, it was less 

 hurtful. At last they came to the knowledge of the latent 

 poison in its juice," etc. 



Gomara (Hist, gen., c. 71), Acosta (Hist. nat. y moral de 

 las Indias, 1588-90 ; lib. 4, c. 17), Monardes (De Simplici- 

 bus medic, transl. by L'Ecluse, 1593, p. 437), and other 

 writers of the 16th century gave good descriptions of the 

 plant " Yuca," and of the " cagavi " or " cazabi " prepared 

 from the root. By the blunder of European editors, in the 

 last half of the 16th century, the Haj^tian name was trans- 

 ferred from the plant to which it belonged to one of another 

 order, the Yucca of Linnaeus and of modern botany. The 

 mistake was pointed out by Lobel. 



Jean de Lery (Hist. Navig. in Brasil. c. 9) describes the 

 two species that were cultivated in Brazil in 1557 — under 



