34 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



whofe leaves have the colour and luftre of thofc of the 

 orange ; and the flovt^ers are of a beautiful red, and limi- 

 lar in figure to thofe of the pomegranate^ and of a mod 

 penetrating and pleafmg fcent, of which the branches alfo 

 partake. The fruit is round and borne in clufters v^hicb 

 at firfl are green, afterwards become almofl black. This 

 pepper, ufed formerly by the ancient Mexicans, may fup- 

 ply the want of that of Malabar. 



Cotton, from its utility, was one of the moft valuable 

 productions of that country, as it ferved inflcad of flax 

 (although this plant was not wanting to themj, and the 

 inhabitants of Anahuac were generally clothed in it (Jj). 

 There is white and tawny-coloured cotton, vulgarly call- 

 ed Coyote, It is a plant common in warm countries, but- 

 more cultivated by the ancients, than the moderns. 



The Achiote^ called by the French Rocou^ ferved the 

 Mexicans in dying, as it now does the Europeans. Of 

 the bark they made cordage, and the wood was ufed to 

 produce fire by friction, after the mode of the ancient 

 Ihepherds of Europe. This tree is well defcribed in the 

 dictionary of Bomare. 



With regard to corn and leguminous plants, that coun- 

 try had from Europe, wheat, barley, rice, peafe, beans, 

 lentils, and others ; all of which rooted themfelves fuc- 

 cefsfully in foils fuited to their nature, and multiplied ac- 

 cordingly, as v/e fliall fliew in our dillertations (/ ). 



Of 



(/j) Mlchuacaii, New Mexico, and Quivira produced flax in great abundance 

 and of the beft quality ; but we are ignorant if thefe nations cultivated or made 

 ufe of it. The Court of Spain, being made acquainted of the lands of Mexico 

 being fit for the culture of flax and hemp, fent, in the year 1778, twelve coun- 

 try families from Vega di Granata, to be employed in that kind of agriculture. 



(2) Dr. Hernandez, in his Natural Hiftory of Mexico, defcribes the fpecies of 

 wheat found in Michuacan, and boafts its prodigious fecundity-: but the ancients 

 either did not know, or did not incline to ufe it, but gave preference then, as 



they 



