Page:The Hasty-Pudding.djvu/27

Rh ground, the chief and principal, is that grain which the people of Mexico and Barlovento call Mayz, and those of Peru, Cara, being the only bread they use. And this is of two sorts, one called Muruchu, which is hard, and the other Capia, which is tender and fine, and is eaten as bread, either boiled, baked, or parched, over the fire. The hard kind is that which has been brought to Spain, but not the fine and tender sort.” The corn of the Incas, he says, was ground by women, between two broad stones in the form of a half moon, from the flour of which, they made a kind of hasty-pudding, called Api, a great dish among them, esteemed as high feeding, but was not common at every meal. He mentions another kind of bread, made of maize, called Cara, upon which he was nourished for nine or ten years. This consisted of three sorts, namely, Cancu, used only for sacrifice; Huminta, for feasts and great entertainments; and Tanta or bread of common use. Boiled cara they called Muti, which is also the name of boiled corn. The virgins or wives of the Sun, were employed in the evening in kneading great quantities of dough, which they formed into small round cakes that were eaten by the Indians only at the feasts of Raymi and Citua; for, at other times, they never eat their maize kneaded into bread, nor did they eat it at their meals, with the exception of two or three mouthfuls at the beginning. Their physicians prescribed no other diet to their sick than what was made of maize. They also made plasters or poultices of it, which they applied for the relief of aches, colics, and other pains. Of the flour of maize, mixed with water, the Indians brewed their common beverage, which, by a certain process, they were able to convert into an excellent vinegar. Of the stalks, before the maize was ripe, they made a kind of honey, and some, who loved to be drunk, lay their corn steeping in water, until germination took place, and then, after grinding, boiled it in the same water, drawed it off, and kept it until stale. This was the strongest drink the Peruvians had, which was called, in their language,