98 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



and other quadrupeds, and get into their ears, and fomc- 

 times into thofe of men. 



The other abounds in the grafs of the hot countries, 

 from which it readily gets upon the clothes, and from 

 thefe to the flcin, upon which it fixes with fuch force from 

 the particular fhape of its feet, that it is very difficult to 

 detach it, and if it is not fpeedily removed makes a wound 

 like that made by the Nigua or Chegoe. At firft it feems 

 nothing more than a fmall black fpeck ; but afterwards 

 enlarges fo quickly, and to fuch a degree from the blood 

 which it fucks, that in a very fhort time it becomes as 

 large as a bean, and then takes the colour of lead (/)- 



The celebrated cochineal of Mexico, fo well known 

 and fo highly efleemed overall the world, for the beauty 

 of the colour which it affords, is an infe6i: peculiar to that 

 country, and the moft ufeful of all that the land of Ana- 

 huac produces. There particular pains have always been 

 taken to rear it from the times of the Mexican kings (g); 

 but the country in which it thrives the beft is that of 

 Mizteca, where it is the principal branch of commerce 



of 



(/) Oviedo fays, that the beft and fafeft method of feparating it fpeedily, 

 is to anoint the part with oil, and then to fcrape it with a knife. 



(g) The hiftoiian Herrera, in the Dec. IV. lib. viii. cap. 8. fays, that although 

 the Indians had the cochineal, yet they knew nothing of its virtues till they 

 were inftru<Sled by the Spaniards. But what did the Spaniards teach them ? To 

 rear the cochineal ? How were they fitted to teach what they were ignorant of 

 themfelves, while they took that to be a feed which is in reality an infcdt. They 

 taught the Indians perhaps, to ufe it as a dye ; but unlefs the Indians ufed it as 

 a dye, to what purpofe did they take fo much pains in rearing it? Why were 

 Huaxyacac, Coyolopan, and feveral other places obliged to pay twenty bags of 

 cochineal yearly to the king of Mexico, as appears by the regifter of taxes ? Is 

 it poffible to imagine, that a people fo given to painting even as they were, and 

 who were befides well acquainted with the ufe of the Achiote, the indigo, and 

 of a great many mineral earths and ftones, fhould be ignorant of the ufe of the 

 cochineal? - 



