HISTORY OF MEXICO. 35 



Of grain, the chief, the moft Qfeful, and mofl: common 

 ^vas the maize, called by the Mexicans, lluolH ; of which 

 there are feveral fpecies, differing in fize, colour, weight, 

 and tafte. There is the large and the fmall fort, the 

 white, the yellow, the blue, the purple, the red, and the 

 black. I'he Mexicans made bread of maize, and other 

 meats, of which we jQiail treat hereafter. Maize was car- 

 ried from America to Spain, and from Spain into the 

 other countries of Europe, to the great advantage of the 

 poor 5 though an author of the prefent day, would make 

 America indebted to Europe for it ; an opinion the moft 

 extravagant and improbable which ever entered a human 

 brain {k). 



The chief pulfe of the Mexicans, was the French bean, 

 of which the fpecies are more numerous and more varied 

 than thofe of maize. The largefl fpecies is the Ayacotli^ 

 which is the lize of a common bean, and comes from a 

 beautiful red flower ; but the moft efteemed is the fmall 

 black heavy French bean. This pulfe, which in Italy is 

 of no value, becaufe it is not good there, is fo excellent 

 in Mexico, that it not only ferves as fuftenance to the 

 poor clafs of people, but is alfo efteemed a luxury by the 

 Spanilli nobility. 



Of 



they ftill do, to their own maize. The firft perfon who fowed European wheat 

 in that country was, a Moorifti flave belonging to Gortez, having difcovered a 

 few grains of it in a bag of rice, which he carried for provifion, to the Spanifti 

 foldiers. 



(k) Here follow the words of Bomare, in his Di6llcnary of Nat. Hift. vhk 



Ble de Turquie. < — On donnoit a cette plante curieufe Sif utile, le nom dc Bla d^Inde ; 



farce quelle tire fan origine des hides, d'ou elle fut apporte en Turquie, de la dans 

 toutes ks autres parties de Europe, de t Afrique, \^de V Amcrique . The name of Grano 

 di Turchia, by which it is at prefen-t known in Italy, muft certainly have been 

 the only reafon of Bomare's adopting an error, fo contrary to the teftimony of 

 all writers on America, and the univerfal belief of nations. The wheat is call- 

 ed by the Spaniards of Europe and America, Maize, taken from the Haittna 

 V language, which was fpoken in the ifland now called Hifpaniola, or St. 

 .aiingo. 



V 



