ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY OF THE PEANUT 21 



one of the important food plants very commonly grown by the Indians of 

 "New Spain" and other islands of the West Indies. The complete record 

 follows: "Del mani, que es cierto genero de fructa e mantenimiento 

 ordinario que tienen los indios en esta Isla Espanola e otras islas destas 

 Indias. 



"Una fructa que tienen los indios en esta Isla Espanola, que llamen 

 inani, la qual ellos siembran, e cogen, e les es muy ordinaria planta en 

 sus huertos y heredades, y es taraana como pinones con cascara, e tienenla 

 ellos por Sana : los chripstianos poco caso hacen della, si no son algunos 

 hombres baxos, o muchachos y eschlavos, o gente que no perdona su 

 gusto a cosa alguna. Es de mediocre sabor e de poca substancia e muy 

 ordinaria legumbre a los indios, e hayla en gran cantidad." ( Translation : 

 "Of the peanut, which is a certain kind of fruit in common use by the 

 Indians in this Isla Espanola and other islands of the Indies. A fruit 

 which the Indians in this Isla Espanola have, they call mani (peanut) 

 and they plant it, and harvest it and it is a common plant in their gardens 

 and fields, and it is the size of a pine nut with a shell, and they think it is 

 healthful ; the Christians pay little attention to it, unless they are common 

 people, or children, or slaves, or people who do not have a fine taste. It 

 is of mediocre taste, and little substance, and is a very common food of the 

 Indians who use it in quantity.") 



About the same time (1518-1521) Cortes conquered Mexico and this 

 was quickly followed by exploration and colonization. Many voluminous 

 reports on the natural resources of the country apd on the Aztec civiliza- 

 tion and customs were sent to the king of Spain. Few of these early docu- 

 ments have been available for study and no clear-cut picture of the cul- 

 ture and use of peanuts by the Indians of Mexico has been obtained. In 

 reporting on medical practice among the Aztecs, Sahagun (19), historian 

 and instructor in a mission school at Tlatalalco, 1529-1590, mentioned use 

 of tlalcacauatl (Nahuatlan name for peanut, from tlatle = earth and 

 cacauatl = cacao seed) as a poultice for swollen gums ; but he did not list 

 it under this name among the plants used for food. 



Jean de Leary (15), who lived at Rio de Janeiro about 1555, pub- 

 lished a description of the fruits undei: the Brazilian Indian name 

 "manobi." According to Filcalho (11), it was again noted in Brazil in 

 1570 by Gabriel Soares de Souza, and again in Peru about the same time 

 (1571) by Joseph de Acosta (1). 



During the next 200 years the plant was described or mentioned by 

 many botanists and explorers in the New World, and by botanists in 

 Europe ; but it was not until about 100 years ago that the range of the 



