Volume 1 — PLANTS. (continued 2)

CORO.

This plant closely resembles tobacco in its leaf, its pungency, and property of exciting saliva.

When should I ever have done writing, were I to mention the names of all the other shrubs and plants? In certain Guarany towns you find immense woods of rosemary, rue, artemisia or mugwort, golden-rod, mint, and wormwood. I was acquainted with three different kinds of sage, varying in appearance, but endued with the same virtues. That which the Spaniards call royal sage is scarce, because seldom cultivated. Borage, plantane, mallows, bastard marjoram, garden-nasturtium, bugloss, vervain, fumitory, purslain, liquorice, and three kinds of 425pepper, that is, common pepper, which the Guaranies call gỹ; cumbarỹ, which has a small grain, but is remarkably pungent; and aji, which we call Turkish pepper: all these, which grow in Europe, are seen here in some places; but not every where. Ginger grows abundantly when planted. Throughout many tracts of land I could discover none of the nettles of our country. Liberal nature has bestowed on the soil of Paraguay innumerable herbs useful to physicians, such as contrayerva, &c. It may be proper to give some little account of the grains which compose the chief part of the support of the Indians.

MAIZE.

That grain, which the Spaniards call mayz, is the principal provisions of the Americans. It bears grains of divers colours. The Guaranies sow various kinds of it. Those best known to me are the abati hatâ, composed of very hard grains, the abati morotî, which consists of very soft and white ones, the abati mir̂i, which ripens in one month, but has very small dwarfish grains, and bisingallo, the most famous of all, the grains of which are angular and pointed: when pounded in a wooden mortar, they yield a sweet and very wholesome flour, and drunk with water, either alone, or mixed with honey or 426sugar, quickly allay hunger and the most burning thirst. This flour is the delicious food of the soldiers of St. Iago, when they pursue the fugitive savages, and by its aid they often accomplish long and arduous excursions in a few days, without ever being obliged to light a fire to cook their victuals. This flour was likewise a great relief to myself in calamitous journeys under a burning sun. Of the grains of each kind of maize, either whole, or pounded in a mortar, the Indian women make various sorts of food, and even a thin bread, dressed on the hot coals, which, however, hunger alone would render palatable to a European. The Spanish ladies, of maize flour, carefully strained through a sieve, make a white bread, which, while new, has an agreeable flavour, and is to my taste preferable to wheaten bread. The grains of maize, when pounded in a mortar, and sprinkled with water, ferment in a few hours, and frequently afford the lower orders of Spaniards, and still oftener certain Indians, a fermented liquor called chicha or aloja. The Abipones, who abound in honey and the alfaroba, though very fond of maize, never use it in that manner. Many and great are the advantages of maize, for it does not require a very rich soil. One grain often yields the cultivator more than a thousand-fold. The ears, when young and milky, are much relished both by Europeans 427and Americans, either roasted or boiled with meat. The Indians find this grain, however prepared, highly useful in strengthening the body, increasing the blood, and lengthening life. Neither could we discover any thing better for fattening hens and other animals.

BATATAS.^[2]

Amongst articles of food used by the Indians, a high place is given to certain roots which the Spaniards call batatas, and the Germans earth-apples (erdäpfel). It would be superfluous to describe with prolixity a thing so commonly seen. Those of Paraguay are decidedly superior to the German ones in size and flavour. These roots, or rather bulbs, are sometimes white, sometimes red, and sometimes yellow, in Paraguay. In my opinion the red ones are by far the worst, and the yellow the best of all.

THE MANDUBI.

The mandubi, a fruit which Europe may envy America the possession of, resembles an almond in oiliness, sweetness, and, with the exception of the bark, in appearance. It grows under ground from a very beautiful plant about two feet high, which has a square hairy stalk of a 428reddish green colour. Its slender boughs are covered with four small leaves of a bright green on one side, and a whitish hue on the other, and are clothed with tender down. At the beginning of the little boughs grow small yellow flowers with red edges, hanging by a short stem, and surrounded by three leaflets. The roots of this plant are short, slender, and tortuous, and on them hang yellow oblong pods with a soft rind. Each of these pods contains either one or two kernels, (for there are various species of the mandubi,) beautifully covered with a red skin, and inclosing a very white and very rich pulp. These kernels, slightly fried or roasted, are much liked even by Europeans. The oil expressed from them is used instead of oil of olives, to which indeed it is superior, on lettuce; and many eat it with food in the place of butter or beef fat. I have often wished that this excellent fruit grew in Europe, where it certainly would be useful in many ways.