Note 485 — Chapter XCIX

The potatoe was indigenous to the Andes of Peru, and the best potatoe in the world is grown at a place called Huamantango, near Lima. I am surprised to find that Humboldt should have doubted this fact, (“La pomme de terre n’est pas indigène au Pérou.” Nouv. Espagne, ii, p. 400), seeing that there is a native word for potatoe, and that it is mentioned as the staple food of the people of the Collao, by Cieza de Leon, and other early writers. Moreover the Solanaceæ are the commonest plants in several parts of Peru. The ancient Quichua for potatoe is ascu or acsu, and the same word exists in the Chinchay-suyu dialect. (Torres Rubio, p. 219.)