The Tupelo journal., 1909-10-29

GNNg stage OF Savagery, anu "llhou' III
wv dian corn the explorers from hu-
" rope would certainly have been I'M
able, in the conditions under which they were
forced to land upon the western shores, to
effect a permanent settlement on the Amerl-
can continent.
Maize was the only Notwithstanding food
which the Indians could supply to those VINO
attempted to make a home in New England;
it sustained the adventures who traVersed the
valleys of the james, of the st. Johns and OF
the Mississippi; it provided the Spaniards IN
Mexico with nourishment during the reckless
march from Vera Cruz to the plateau of Mex
leo. and this same maize was found by Pizar-
ro's small army of conauerors when the sub
jugated the innumerable hosts of the Incas
of Peru.
Yet up to the time of the landing of Co
lumbus in America maize was absolutely I'M
known to the inhabitants of the old world,
The few kernels of the new food bought to
Queen Isabella by Columbus were classed gen.
orally as grains or cereals. The Norsemen,
who landed near Cape Cod in 1902 A. D., found
n grain previously unknown to them and this
they called corn" attempting to identify it
with wheat and other grains to which they
were already accustomed. The English Purl-
tans also were astOnished on landing to nnd
a new corn; but as they had at home grouped
all grains under the name they therefore ap-
piled to it the same term, definitely dlstln-
gushing it from the others by the spec11c
phrase of Indian corn.
Indian corn is really maize; in English
speaking countries outside of the United
States it is called maize and in all Spanish
countries 'mais" is the word employed; in
Portuguese "milho,' and French again "mais'
indicate it's origin. Maize is altogether an
American word, coming directly from the
primitive Arawak, the most widely dissent
mated Indian stock in South America. 1t orig
mated in the south with the Guanas, on the
headwaters of the river Paraguay, and en-
braced tribes en- the highlands of Bolivia, ex-
tending finally to the Goajiros peninsula, the
most northern land of the continent. They
were the first. therefore, to welcome Column
bus to the Bahamas, Cuba and Haiti. Though
the Arawaks were practically in a state OF
savagery they cultivated maize. The Arawak
word for maize is "marisi," and this they mad
handed over to the Caribs who inhabited many
OF the West Indian islands. 1t was one of the
first words olumbus heard, and through him
il became general in Europe. In Guiana and
further south on the Atlantic coast of South
America "manioc" took the place of maize
as food.
North American Indians had other express
sions for their grain. The grain itself had
come to them partly through the Caribs, but
chiefly through the tribes of northern Mexico,
which shows that there were two channels of
communication, even in p~re-Columbian times,
to the land on the north Atlantic. These
North American Indians seem not to have
used the word maize; it had been lost in
crossing the Gulf of Mexico, and whatever
term was employed by them is now oSy a
philologic curiosity. Neither does the ancient
word of the Aztecs, of the Mayas, the Chib-
chas or the Incas correspond to maize, so that
It seems certain that maize was confined to
that extensive race inhabiting regions far to
the east and south of the original home of
Indian corn.
The spot from which this purely American
grain spread, even before it's discovery by
Europeans, to the extreme confines of the
western hemisphere, has been accurately To-
Gated. History, philology, ethnology as well
as tradition have all been factors in this result.
Indefinite claims have been advanced by Asia