Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-04-05
History OF Indian Corn.


The earliest record we find OF maize
is in some Qnichi annals, translated
into French By Brasseur de Bourbourg
in 1861, and called .popol vuh, y which
states that ''in Paxil or Cayala Gland
of divided and stagnant waters') as it
Is called, We're the ears of yellow maize
and OF white. These are the names Of
barbarians who went to seek food: the
Fox, the Jaekal, the Paroquet. and the
Crow-four barbarins who made known
to them the the ears of the white maize
and Of the yellow, who came TO Paxil
aud guided them thither There it was
that they obtained at last the food that
was to enter into the flesh of man,
of man created and formed; this
it was that was his blood, that became
the blood Of man this maize that en-
tered into him by the provision of Him
who creates, of Him who gives being.
And they rejoiced that they had at last
arrived in this most excellent land, so
fun of good things. where the white
and yellow maize did abound, also the
eacao, where were sapotes and many
fruits and honey; all was operflowing
with the best Of food in this country OF
PaXil or Cayala. There was food of
every kind; there was large and small
plants, TO which the barbarians had
guided them. They began to grind the
yellow maize, and of them did Xmu-
cane make nine drinks, which nourish-
ment was the beginning of strength
giving unto man flesh and statue. Such
were the deeds of the begetter and giy-
or of being. Tepeuh, Gucumatz. There
upon they began to speak of creating
our first mother and our first father.
Only yellow maize and white maize en-
tered into their flesh, and these alone
formed the legs and arms of man; and
these were our first fathers, the four
men who were formed, into whose flesh
this blood entered This Paxil or
Cayala is suggested by Bancroft to
have been in the region of the Usuma-
cinta River, in the new Mexican pro-
vince of Tabasco. In NaIua record
written in Aztec with Spanish letters
by an anonymous native author, and
referring to the Pre-Toltec period, it is
said, ''At that time Azcatl the ant =
going to Tonacatcpetle, '.mount of
our subsistence, for maize, was met
by Quetzalcoatl, who said, s.where hast
though been TO obtain that thing? Tell
me- At first the ant would not tell.
but the plumed serpent insisted and re-
peated, "Whither shall | go?'' Then
they went there together, Quetzalcoatl
metamorphosing himself into ''black
anti Tlattlanhqui Azcatl, the .'yel-
low ant" accompanied Quetzalcoatl
respectfully, as they went to seek
Then the gods began to eat and put
some of the maize in our mouths that
we might become strong Another
tradition of the Pre-Toltec period is
also given by Bancroft, when an old
man and woman pulled out the broken
teeth of precious stones from the Jaws
of Vucub Cakix, in which he took
great pride, and substituted grains of
maize In the golden age of Mexico,
during the reign of Quetzalcoatl, tradi-
ton says maize was abundant, and a
head Of it was as much as man could
carry clasped in his arms. During the
reign of Nopaltxin. king of the Chchi-
mecs, which Humboldt ascribes to 1850
A. d., the culture of the maize and the
art of making bread, long neglected
and in danger of being lost, was re-
vived by Toltec named Xinhtlato. In
Mexico, Centeotl was goddess of maize.
and had various appellation such as
Tonacajohua, ''she who sustains us, :"
and Tzinteotl, 'orginal goddess" and
during her festival a sort of porridge
made of maize, called ntazdnlorra was
given to the youths, who walked through
the maize fields, carrying stalks of
maize, and other herbs called mec0ntl
with which they afterwards strewed the
image of the god of cereals that every
one had in his house. At harvest time
in Quegolani, the priest of the maize
god, ceremonially visited the corn
fields, sought the fairest and best filed
ear, which, after worshipping, they
wrapped in cloth and at next seed
time, with PROFESSIONS and solemn rites,
buried, wrapped in dear skin, in hole
lined with stones in the midst of the
fields. When another harvest came,
if 1t were fruitful one, the earth was
dug up and the decayed remains dis
tributed in small parcels to the happy
populace as talismans against all kinds
of evil The Mexican god Tlaloc is
represented with stalk of maize in one
hand, and in the other an instrument
with which he is digging the ground,
and this sanguinary deity seems to
have required the sacrifice of boy in
April, and his dead body put in the
granaries or the field. In the great
temple at Mexico there was chapel
dedicated to the god Cinteutl, called
Cinteupan, and the god of maize and
of bread In 1880, Charney found a
statue in Mexico. upon whose base,
among other things, are sculptured re-
presentations of ears of corn. Maize
was first seen by Europeans, on the
main land, in 1893, on the shore of the
gulf of Paria, where the natives
brought to the ship maize and bev-
erage made therefrom (Herrera). In
1903, Diego Bartholomew ''saw about
six leagues of ground full of maize )"
Vasco Nunez in 1913 speaks of maize
at Darien. In 1920, the Spaniards in
their battle with the Tepeacans, were
embarrassed by the tall maize that COW
cred part of the plain. Cortez also
found corn in Honduras in plantations,
and everywhere through Yucatan,
where it had previously been seen by
Columbus in 1902 In this region,
Morelet, more than three centuries lat
er, found the plain covered with maize,
often to seven or eight yards in height
(Sept huit metres de hauteur).
Among the varieties cultivated in Mex
leo, Humboldt mentioned one in which
the ear ripens in two months after
planting, and Oyiedo in Nicaragua
mentions one which is reaped in be-