Ch.il south AMERICA. 325 



therin2:s of that infed. It is not however to be doubt- 

 cdj.but that a more careful attention would cn- 

 lure them the fame fuccefs in great as in fmail 

 quantities. 



Having mentioned this infedl, fo highly valued in 

 every part of the world, for the incomparable beauty 

 of its red, which it equally communicates to wool, 

 filk, linen, and cotton, it may be expedled that I 

 Ihould give fome farther account of it ; and as I 

 fhould be forry to difappoint any rational curiofity of 

 my readers, and at the fame time to iniert any thing, 

 that is not ftridly true, I was unv/illing to rely wholly 

 on my own experience ; together with the accounts I 

 procured at Loja and Hambato, efpecially as Oaxaca 

 is the principal place where this infe6t is produced, I 

 made it my bufmefs to confult perfons v/ell acquainted 

 with the fubjeft, and received the following account, 

 in which they all unanimoufly agreed. 



The cochineal is bred on a plant known in Oaxaca, 

 and all thofe parts where it abounds, by the name of 

 Tiofpal *, or nopalleca, the Indian fig-tree, which, ex- 

 cept in the difference of the foliage, refembles the 

 tunos, fo common in the kingdom of Andalufia. The 

 }eaf of the tuna being broad, flat, and prickly and 

 that of the nopal, oblong, with feveral eminences ; 

 and inftead of fpines, has a fine fmooth membrane, 

 of a fine permanent and lively green. 



The method of planting the nopal is by making 

 rows of holes, about half a yard deep^ and about two 

 yards diftant from one another. In each of thefe holes 

 is placed one or two leaves of the nopal, in a fiat pofi- 

 tion, and then covered with earth. This leaf fooa 

 after fhoots up into a fingle iiem, which during its 

 growth divides into feveral branches, and thefe fuccef- 



* This plant is called by botanifts, Opuntla maxima, folio ohlonga 

 ratimdo ?najore^ fpinuUs chtujii mollihus et innocentibus ohjito^ fore ftriis 

 ruhis 'varic^ato, Sloane's Catalogue. 



Y 3 lively 



