164 The Sunflower. 



wearing them also on the breast, and carrying others in their 

 hands, which, reflecting the rays of their deity by the brilliancy 

 of the metal, formed an effect of the most imposing grandeur. 

 The Spaniards, who were amazed at this display of gold, were 

 still more astonished when, in May, they saw the fields covered 

 with these flowers, which had been so closely imitated by the 

 artificers of the new world, that the precious ore appeared less 

 admirable than the workmanship in the eyes of those rapacious 

 conquerors. The Sunflower is made the emblem of False 

 Riches, because gold of itself, however abundant, cannot render 

 a person truly rich. It is related of Pytheus of Lydia, that pos- 

 sessing valuable gold mines, he entirely neglected the cultivation 

 of his lands, which naturally became so unprofitable as not to 

 afford the common necessaries of life. His wife, who showed 

 herself possessed of as much good sense as wit, at a banquet 

 supper which Pytheus had ordered to be prepared, directed that 

 all the dishes should be filled with gold, in different shapes and 

 states, instead of viands. On the removal of the covers, this in- 

 genious woman exclaimed to the guests, " I set before you what 

 we have in greatest abundance, for we cannot reap what we do 

 not sow." This lesson made a proper impression on the mind 

 of Pytheus, who acknowledged that Providence distributes its 

 various riches like a tender mother, who has love for all her off- 

 spring, however numerous. This gaudy flower naturally brings 

 to mind the enormities which the treacherous Spaniards com- 

 mitted on the plains, where this plant springs spontaneously, led 

 on by the most ravenous appetite for plunder ; the infatuated 

 pillagers attempted to enlighten the unfortunate heathen, who, in 

 the simplicity of their hearts, poured out their adorations to the 

 sun, as the grandest object which their imaginations could con- 

 ceive, and their glaring and favorite flower will ever remain as 

 a memento of the folly of those, who attempt to inspire the 

 ignorant with an idea of pure religion, through the assistance 

 of craft and cruelty. Had the Spaniards returned to Europe 

 loaded with plants and seeds, which would have been an excite- 

 ment to industry, instead of gold and precious stones, which 

 naturally lead kingdoms, as well as individuals, to voluptuous idle- 

 ness, the Spanish nation might, at this period, have been one of the 

 most wealthy and happy kingdoms in Europe, instead of being 

 impoverished by pride, and depopulated by dissensions. The 



