/ 



Ch. m SOUTH AMEHICA. i^ 



they roail and grind it, and of the flour they make a 

 ^decodion of what ftrength they pleafe. It is then put 

 into jars or cafiis, with a proportional quantity of \va- 

 €er. On the fecond or third day it begins to fer- 

 ment, and when that is completed, which is in two 

 or three days more, they efleem it fit for drinking. 

 It is reckoned very cooling,^ and that it is inebriating, 

 is fuflicientiy evident from the Indians.^ thofc people 

 ;have indeed fo little government of themfeives, that 

 they never give over till they have emptied the cafko 

 ,Its tafte is not unlike cyder ^ but feems in fome mea- 

 fure to require the difpatch of the Indians, turning 

 four in feven or eight days :after the fermentation h 

 completed^ Behdes its fuppofed quality of being 

 cooling, i^: is, among other m.edical properties, con- 

 felledly diiireuc ; and to the ufe of this liquor the 

 Indians are fuppofed to be indebted for their being 

 ilrangers to the ftrangury or graveh It is alfo not 

 furprizing that thofc people who drink it, without 

 .any other food than cancha, mote, and muchea, 

 are, with the he-lp of this liquor, heakhy, ftrong, and 

 rob u ft. 



Maize boiled till the grains begin to fplit, when it 

 is called mote, ferves for food to the Indians the 

 poor people, and ferv^nts in families, who being ha- 

 bituated to it, prefer it to bread. 



Maize, before it i^ ripe called chogllGS, is fold ia 

 the ear, and among the poorer fore of inhabitants 

 efteemed a great dainty. 



Besides the grains of the fame fpecies with thofe 

 in Spain, this country has one peculiar to itfelf, and. 

 very well deferving to be ranked among the molt pala- 

 table foods ; but ftill more valuable for its being one 

 of the prefervatives againfi: all kinds of abfceffes 

 and impofthumes. This ufeful ipecies of grain^ here 

 called quinoa, refembles a lentile in fliape, but much 

 lefs, and very white. When boiled it opens, and out 

 of it comes a fpiral fibre, which appears like a fmall 



Yo L U worm. 



\ 



