H.—ANTHROPOLOGY 167 
the year 1820, up-river from Buenos Aires to Paraguay, with the object 
of obtaining specimens of the plant; but Paraguay, always isolated, was 
under the dictatorship of that extraordinary individual José Gaspar 
Francia, whose policy put a fence round the little country. Bonpland 
was placed under a kind of arrest, detained for many years, and while he 
was still practically a prisoner of Francia’s, yerba maté had been seen 
by Saint Hilaire in South Brazil, in the Curityba region, identified as a 
member of the ilex family, and named by him Ilex paraguariensis. 
Saint Hilaire afterwards changed the name to Ilex maté ; but meanwhile, 
in 1824, A. B. Lambert, the distinguished English botanist, described 
the tree, illustrated it, and gave it the name I/ex paraguayensis, by which 
it is now usually known. 
The subject with which I have been dealing may seem, at first sight, 
to be a little removed from the activities of the Section. But I would 
suggest that the study of Ethno-botany is of the highest importance. 
The rapid spread of stimulants, narcotics and food plants throughout the 
world has a direct bearing on culture-diffusion. 
But trouble arises from the fact that valuable food plants spread so 
rapidly that their origin becomes obscured. Especially cereals. Maize, 
to give one instance, indigenous to America and unknown in the Old 
World before Columbus, became the staple food of half Africa within a 
century of the discovery, spreading from tribe to tribe, far beyond 
European exploration. In Europe it penetrated to the Levant, and became 
known in France as blé de Turquie. In Germany it was called tiirkische 
Weisen. In England it was called guinea corn, because it came to us 
from West Africa. 
I suggest that there is a splendid opportunity for a young man, trained 
in botany, to undertake the revision of that fine work The Origin of 
Cultivated Plants, written by Alphonse de Candolle. The last edition 
of this was published in 1909, but the Preface, written in 1882, is a model 
of sympathetic guidance to those who follow. Much has been dis- 
covered since de Candolle’s day, and a new edition is badly needed. 
It is in the hope that some of the younger men may take up the task that 
I have chosen this subject for my address. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
1535-53- ULRICH SCHMIDT (SCHMIEDEL), A True and Agyveeable Description of 
some Indian Lands. (Hakluyt Society, vol. Ixxxj, The Conquest of La Plata, 
ed. by L. L. Dominguez, London, 1891.) 
1541-44. ALVAR NUNEZ CABEZA DE Vaca, Commentaries, in the same volume as 
the preceding. 
1569-74. Nicoras MonarpEs, Joyfull Newes out of the New-found World 
(London, 1580) ; a translation by John Frampton of Las cosas que se traen 
de nuestvas Indias Occidentales. (Seville, 1569-74.) 
1612. Rui Diaz DE GuzmaNn, ‘ Historia Argentina, in P. de Angelis’ Collection 
de Obras y Documentos, vol. i. (Buenos Aires, 1836.) 
?1617. ANTONIO DE RoBLES CORNEJO, Examen le los simples Medicinales 
(MS. 
a? Nicotaus DuRAN, Litterae Annuae Provinciae Paraquariae Societatis 
Jesu. (Antwerp, 1636.) 
