THE COCHINEAL. 
445 
oears the appellation ofNcgra, if deftroyed upon the hot 
plates that have been ufed for the roafting of maize. 
But whatever be the method of preparation, that co- 
chineal is always f6und fuperior, both in quality and 
quantity, which has been produced upon the cultivated 
frees. The cultivation of the opuntia, therefore, and the 
railing cochineal, is a trade almoft univerf.il throughout 
Mexico : Eight hundred and eighty thoufand pound 
"’eight of this article, is faid to be annually imported in- 
to Europe, where it fells at a high price*'. Various are 
the ufes to which our luxuries, and the arts fubfervient 
to them, have applied this drug. It is ufed in dyeing, and 
produces along with other fu bit antes, a variety of Ihades 
of fcarlet : It furnilhes painters with many lively Ihades of 
fcarlet, crimfon, and red : When ground into powder, it 
enters copioully into that carminative mixture which: 
imitates the bloom of youth on the human cheek, and 
which is fo frequently had recourfe to by the fair, who 
would repair the injuries of time f : had it really this 
effect, the Mexicans , we mull allow, would command a 
treafure of greater value than all the mines of the new 
World. 
Some attempts have been made by the French to find 
out the cochineal in St. Domingo, and to rival the Spani- 
ards in their lucrative commerce in that article. The 
Specimens, however, that have been produced in Europe, 
by one of the correfpondents of the academy of fciences t 
in that ifland, have not, hitherto, anfwered expectation, 
but produced a colour fo weak as gives reafon to doubt 
"hether the infect be of the fame fpecies. It is proba- 
ble, 
* Reaumur, Tom. IV. p. 106. 
t Rarbwt, page is 6 . \ M. dll Hamel, Doitor of MedioiBe, 
