PRIMITIVE AGRICULTURE. 



233 



enough to pave every street in New-Orleans, with- 

 out sending to the North for it, as it was necessary 

 to do ; but, not to be outdone in sensible views of 

 things, we suggested that if he had it on the banks 

 of the Mississippi, easy of access, preserved from the 

 rank vegetation which is now hurrying it to destruc- 

 tion, it would stand like Herculaneum and Pompeii, 

 a place of pilgrimage for the curious ; and that it 

 would be a much better operation to put a fence 

 around it and charge for admission, than to sell the 

 stone for paving streets. 



By this time we had reached the foot of the ter- 

 race, and a few steps brought us into the corn-field. 

 The system of agriculture in Yucatan is rather 

 primitive. Besides hemp and sugar, which the In- 

 dians seldom attempt to raise on their own account, 

 the principal products of the country are corn, 

 beans, and calabazas, like our pumpkins and squash- 

 es, camotes, which are perhaps the parent of our 

 Carolina potatoes, and chili or pepper, of which last 

 an inordinate quantity is consumed, both by the In- 

 dians and Spaniards. Indian corn, however, is the 

 great staple, and the cultivation of this probably dif- 

 fers but little now from the system followed by the 

 Indians before the conquest. In the dry season, 

 generally in the months of January and February, 

 a place is selected in the woods, from which the 

 trees are cut down and burned. In May or June 

 the corn is planted. This is done by making little 

 holes in the ground with a pointed stick, putting in 



Vol. I.— G g 



