THE AMERICAN COCHINEAL. 315 



taken from the plant for use. Twice or thrice a 

 week, the slaves appropriated to this employment 

 go among the Cactus plants, and pick off carefully, 

 with a bamboo twig, shaped somewhat into the form 

 of a pen, every full-grown insect they can find, with 

 many not yet arrived to their perfect state ; the con- 

 sequence of which is, that the plants are never half 

 stocked with insects, many of the females being de- 

 stroyed before they had deposited their young. The 

 natives of Mexico pursue a method very different. 

 As oon as the periodical rains are over, and the 

 weather is warmer, as well as drier, they fix on the 

 prickles of the Cactus leaves, small parcels of the 

 finest moss, serving as nests to contain, .each, ten or 

 a dozen full-grown female insects. These, in the 

 course of a few days, bring forth an innumerable tribe 

 of young, spreading themselves over the leaves and 

 branches of the plant, till they become attached to 

 those spots which they find most favourable for 

 supplying nutritious juice ; where, soon acquiring 

 their full growth, they remain motionless, and then 

 are gathered off for use; a sufficient number being 

 always left for the production of new broods. 



The insects are soon converted into Cochineal, by 

 a very simple process ; — but if, in corporeal sufferance, 

 the poor beetle feels a -pang as great as when a giant 

 dies, this process is not more simple than it is cruel. 

 The insects, which were collected in a wooden 

 bowl, are thickly spread from thence upon a flat 

 dish of earthenware, and placed alive over a char- 

 coal fire, where they are slowly roasted until the 

 downy covering disappears, and the aqueous juices 



