416 [Assembly 



mentions another kind of bread, made of maize called Cara, upon- 

 which he was nourished for nine or ten years. This consisted of 

 three sorts, namely, Cancu, used only for sacrifice; Huminta, for 

 feasts and great entertainments; and Tanta, or bread of common use. 

 Boiled cara they called Muti, which is also the name of boiled corn. 

 The Virgins or Wives of the Sun, were employed in the evening in 

 kneading great quantities of dough, which they formed into small 

 round cakes that were eaten by the Indians only at the feasts of 

 Raymi and Citua; for, at other times, they never eat their maize 

 kneaded into bread, nor did they eat it at their meals, with the ex- 

 ception of two or three mouthfuls at the beginning. Their physi- 

 cians prescribed no other diet to their sick than what was made of 

 maize. They also made plasters or poultices of it, which they ap- 

 plied for the relief of aches, colics, and other pains. Of the flour 

 of maize, mixed with water, the Indians brewed their common beve- 

 rage, which, by a certain process, they were able to convert into an 

 excellent vinegar. Of the stalks, before the maize was ripe, they 

 made a kind of honey, and some, who loved to be drunk, lay their 

 corn steeping in water, until germination took place, and then, after 

 grinding, boiled it in the same water, drawed it off, and kept it 

 until stale. This was the strongest drink the Peruvians had, which 

 was called, in their language, Vinnapu, and by some of the neigh- 

 bouring tribes, Sora. From its intoxicating effects, its use was pro- 

 hibited by the Incas, who made it a penal offence with all who 

 drank to excess. 



Francisco Severio Clavigero, in describing the grain of Mexico, 

 says, " The chief, the most useful, and most common was the maize, 

 called by the Indians Tluolli, of which there are several varieties, 

 differing in size, colour, weight, and taste. There is the large and 

 the small sort, the white, the yellow, the blue, and the black." 



Captain John Smith, in his account of the Indians of Virginia, 

 says, " The greatest labour they take, is in planting their come, for 

 the country naturally is overgrowne with wood. To prepare the 

 ground, they bruise the barke of the trees neare the root, then doe 

 they scortch the roots with fire that they grow no more. The next 

 yeare with a crooked peece of wood they beat vp the weeds by the 

 rootes, and in that mould they plant their corne. Their manner is 

 this. They make a hole in the earth with a sticke, and into it they 

 put foure graines of wheate (maize), and two of beanes. These 

 holes they make foure foote one from another. Their women and 

 children do continually keepe it with weeding and when it is growne 



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