Note 311-5 — LETTER OF DR. CHANCA ON THE SECOND VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS

Agi, also written Axi, is the Capsicum annuum or Spanish pepper. Most of the cayenne or red pepper of commerce comes from the allied species, Capsicum frutescens. In Mexico the name of this indigenous pepper plant was Quauhchilli, Chili tree. Chili was taken over into Spanish as the common name for capsicum and has come down in English in the familiar Chili sauce. See Peschel, Zeitalter der Entdeckungen, p. 139; De Candolle, Origin of Cultivated Plants, pp. 289-290. Encyclopædia Britannica, art. “Cayenne Pepper.”