Note 348 — Chapter X · FOOD OF THE NAHUA NATIONS.
Reading edition
A full list and description of the many edible Mexican plants which were cultivated by the Nahuas in the sixteenth and earlier centuries, as they have been ever since by their descendants, is given by the botanist, Hernandez, in his Nova Plantarum; see also Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 45-68; repeated in Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 102-19; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 236, et seq. Maize, maguey, cacao, bananas, and vanilla. Prescott's Mex., vol. i., pp. 134-6. The Totonacs raised fruits, but no cacao or veinacaztli. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 131. The people of Michoacan raised 'maíz, frisoles, pepitas y fruta, y las semillas de mantenimientos, llamados oauhtli, y chian.' Id., p. 137. The Matlaltzincas also raised the hoauhtli. Id., p. 130. Besides corn, the most important products were cotton, cacao, maguey (metl), frijoles, chia, and chile. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 158; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 624. 'Les Mexicains cultivaient non-seulement toutes les fleurs et toutes les plantes que produit leur pays, mais encore une infinité d'autres qu'ils y avaient transplantées des contrées les plus éloignées.' Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 44. Id., Crónica, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 18. 'Hay frutas de muchas maneras, en que hay cerezas, y ciruelas que son semejables á las de España.' Cortés, Cartas, p. 104. Fruit was more abundant among the Huastecs than elsewhere. Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 147. 'They haue also many kindes of pot herbes, as lettice, raddish, cresses, garlicke, onyons, and many other herbes besides.' Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii. Edible fruits. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 300.