Chinampa

“ The chinampas as they exist to-day are in the neighborhood of Santa Anita and along the sides of the canal all the way to the lake. The ground is low and marshy, and in ancient times was probably a part of the lake or of the great body of water that covered most of the valley. The chinampas are masses of vegetation, reeds, and bushes covered with [Pg 191] soil above, and they are so loosely fastened that they rise and fall with the changes of the height of water. They are said to have been formerly drifted about by the winds and waves, and were then really chinampas ”

“ All the agricultural products of the country, particularly maize, chile, and beans were soon produced in abundance on the chinampas, while the larger ones even bore fruit and shade trees of considerable size, and a hut for the convenience of the 346 owner, or gardener. The floating gardens have remained in use down to modern times, but since the waters of the lakes receded so much from their former limits, they have been generally attached to the shore, being separated by narrow canals navigated by the canoes which bear their produce to the markets. ”

“ These chinampas are guarded by Indians who live in huts in their neighbourhood and who tow or push them from one place to another by means of long poles. Floating islands of a somewhat similar formation have been discovered in different parts of the world—in Quito and in Italy, as well as in the Celestial Empire. ”

“ The chinampas are the most developed forms of crops rotation and mixed crops, as well as the more intensive use of plant and seed. This type of cultivation is found in production during the entire year, year after year; surely it's one of the most permanent cultivation systems, intensive and productive in the world. ”

“ Cinnamon is also to be found here, especially in the island of Mindanao, where a Page 43large quantity of it is gathered on the headland called Quavit,4 and in Samboaga and other parts of the said island. In some places we have seen pepper trees and other drugs which the natives do not value or cultivate—from which, with care and cultivation, they might derive and obtain profit.
At present cinnamon is the only article in the land from which we can derive profit; for, as I have said above, the gold supply will always be small until the mines are worked. ”

“ Laughing and chattering, the women dispersed to their huts to grind a fresh stint of maize to replace the tortillas and atolé that had been carried away by the soldiers; but Chinita sat down at the door of the adobe hut thus temporarily deserted, and with a smile of derision upon her lips watched the group of men congregated around the village shop. The bridegroom, a middle-aged man, with a dark face deeply imbrowned by the sun and seamed with scars (for he had been a soldier before he was a vaquero) , stood in the midst of them, dressed in a suit of buff leather, gay with embroidery. ”

“ They wove and embroidered the royal coca bags which the Inca hung upon his left shoulder. They made the sacred llautu with the colored fringe, and the straw-colored twist for the head of the prince royal. They gathered bones of white llamas and burned them with linen they had spun. Then they collected the ashes, and looking toward the east, threw them into the air, an offering to the Sun. They made bread for the festivals of the Sun and the chicha drunk by the Inca and his kindred, in kettles of gold and silver. For recreation they went out to walk in their garden of silver and gold. ”

“ Nicolo Conti, speaking of the “very noble island called Zeilan,” says (p. 7) : “Here also cinnamon grows in great abundance. It is a tree which very much resembles our thick willows, excepting that the branches do not grow upwards, but are spread out horizontally: the leaves are very like those of the laurel, but are somewhat larger. The bark of the branches is the thinnest and best, that of the trunk of the tree is thicker and inferior in flavour. The fruit resembles the berries of the laurel; an odoriferous oil is extracted from it adapted for ointments, which are much used by the Indians. ”

“ The traveller who visits Colombo will hardly fail to make an excursion to the Cinnamon Garden, in order to inhale the fragrant and peculiar aroma, and enjoy tasting the tender rind of this remarkable shrub, which plays so conspicuous a part in the history of Ceylon. During the palmy days of cinnamon culture, the five principal cinnamon plantations of the southern half of the island extended some 15 or 20 miles. For this one lucrative product of the soil all others374 on the island were abandoned, with most deplorable consequences. ”

“ The roots are earthed up frequently, to keep the soil loose and free from weeds. In 1858, 750,744 lbs. of cinnamon were exported from Ceylon, worth 37,537l. There are forty-nine cinnamon-gardens in the island.
[527] Mr. McIvor observes that the leaves of all the chinchona-plants at Ootacamund are exceedingly bitter to the taste, and he suggests that these leaves, which naturally fall off the trees in succession, may be turned to account by being imported to England as a substitute for hops in the manufacture of beer. ”

“ Of these, the bird-cherries (like damsons) are made into an excellent preserve by the English residents, who also make capital cherry-brandy of them: the trade in cinnamon is of recent introduction, and is much encouraged by the Inglis family, to whose exertions these people are so greatly indebted; the cinnamon is the peeled bark of a small species of Cinnamomum allied to that of Ceylon, and though inferior in flavour and mucilaginous (like cassia) , finds a ready market at Calcutta. It has been used to adulterate the Ceylon cinnamon ”

“ The introduction of quinine-yielding Chinchona-trees into India, and the cultivation of the "Peruvian Bark" in our Eastern possessions, where that inestimable febrifuge is almost a necessary of life, has for some years engaged the attention of the Indian Government. In 1859 the author of the present work was intrusted, by the Secretary of State for India in Council, with the duty of superintending all the necessary arrangements for the collection of Chinchona-plants and seeds of the species esteemed in commerce, in South America, and for their introduction into India. ”

“ Ikánam, the creator of the universe, is a powerful deity among the Chinooks, who have a mountain named after him from a belief that he there turned himself into stone. After him, or before him as many say, comes Italapas, the Coyote, who created men after an imperfect fashion, [V-12] taught them how to make nets and catch salmon, how to 156 make a fire, and how to cook; for this the first fruits of the fishing season are always sacred to him, and his figure is to be found carved on the head of almost every Chinook canoe on the Columbia. ”

“ Pedro sighed, for perplexity and vexation had destroyed his own appetite, and thought enviously, as Chinita’s white teeth closed on the soft pastry, which was yellow in comparison, “It is a good thing nothing but unrequited love keeps the young from supping,—and that only for a time.”
The gate-keeper watched Chinita narrowly as she was eating and drinking atole from the rough earthen jar. ”

“ The Chincha also were constantly at war with the Chimu, Chuquimancu and Cuismancu who each ruled large and civilized coast states. The Chincha were conquered by the Inca either in the reign of Pachacutec or in that of Tupac Yupanqui (more probably the former) somewhere about 1450. According to Estete, their ruler (under Inca tutelage) in the time of the Conquest was Tamviambea. The cultural development of the Chincha was, artistically speaking, not so high as that of the Chimu. It was, however, in pre-Inca times, relatively complex. ”

“ Upon this day as Chinita turned from the altar, while others smiled, a frown contracted the brow of Doña Feliz, as for the first time perhaps she realized that this gypsy-like child was in physique a woman. She had chosen to wear a dress of bright green woollen stuff,—far from becoming to the olive tint of her skin, but by some accident cut to fit the lithe figure which already outlined, though imperfectly, the graces of early womanhood. The short armless jacket was fashioned after the child’s own fancy, and opened over a chemise which was a mass of drawn work and embroidery ”

“ In the fertile vale of Chinchao, famous for its coca plantations, a few proprietors of Huanuco cultivate frijoles, or beans, for the use [60] of the coca-gatherers: rice is also grown by the humid banks of the great rivers, and maize is everywhere sown as a necessary of life.
In the Montaña, chicha is made from maize, as in other parts of Peru; but the natives here make a drink called masata, not known in more civilized parts of the country, produced by chewing the yuca or maize, &c. ”

“ It seemed to her in her excitement as if, indeed, she had always known it.
“A word to the wise is enough,” said the man, mysteriously. “Keep your knowledge to yourself, but use it to your advantage. You were sent like a package to Doña Isabel years ago, but stopped by a clumsy messenger. She finds you in her path now; let her find something alive under the shabby coverings. God puts many a sweet nut in a rough shell, many a poison in despised weeds!”
“Oh!” cried Chinita, with a wicked little laugh, though even at that moment the chords of kinship thrilled, “I am but a weed to Doña Isabel, eh? ”

“ The finest is taken from young trees; a coarser sort from the old ones; and the third is the wild cinnamon, or cassia, which grows not only in Ceylon, but in Malabar and China, and of late years in Brazil. The company also derives great profit from an essential oil drawn from cinnamon, which sells at a high price; and it also makes considerable gain by the precious stones found in this island, being rubies, white and blue sapphires, topazes, and others. ”

“ Pepé rode steadily on for hours, picturing to himself his meeting with Pedro should he find him, or the quiet exultation of Chinita when she should hear that he had deserted the troops, or of the return of Don ’Guardo to the hacienda. In his heart he was not displeased that the American should be separated from Chinita, though it left her the more completely to the gallant care of Ruiz. He had comprehended instantly the emotion which had seized upon Ashley at his kinsman’s grave,—the instinct for revenge. ”

“ Where there is no pitch-pine, the 388Indians use this, or the sassafras, for posts to their houses; as they last for generations, and the worms never take them. Chinquapins are very plenty, of the taste of chesnuts, but much less in size. There are several sorts of very wholesome and pleasant-tasted ground nuts, which few of our colonists know any thing of. In wet land, there is an aromatic red spice, and a sort of cinnamon, which the natives seldom use. The Yopon, or Cusseena, is very plenty, as far as the salt air reaches over the low lands. ”

“ In Chincha, the people were waiting for the arrival of the Inca in their valley, with more than 30,000 armed men, and they expected support from their neighbours. Tupac Inca, when he knew it, sent messengers, with great presents, to the chiefs and principal captains, instructing the ambassador to make great offers in his name, to assure them that he did not desire war, but rather peace and brotherhood, and other messages of that kind. The Chinchas heard what the Inca said, and received his presents. ”

“ Is not one cactus like another that grows on the same mountain? Should a white-blooded American be like a cavalier of blue-blood, or like an Indian of the villages? Yet both, one and the other, are we not Mexicans?” and she uttered the words as one might say, “Are we not gods?”
“That is very true,” commented Chinita, gravely; “and yet they are not frights, these Americans. Why should not the Señorita Herlinda have loved one if it pleased her? Listen, Florencia; I will tell thee a dream I had one night. When one’s bed is too soft, one dreams dreams.” ”

“ He had stepped between her and Pepé, to whom with a strange perversity she turned as if to show her disdain for the foreigner, whose every word had a tone of reproach. A mere suggestion that the proprieties which Doña Feliz and Doña Isabel had attempted to graft upon the rude stalk of her untrained, unguarded childhood had some other meaning than an elder’s caprices, touched Chinita’s mind: a young man could know nothing of woman’s freaks and prejudices ”

“ Chincha Islands, islands off the coast of Peru that had beds of guano, often 100 ft. thick, due to the droppings of penguins and other sea birds, now all but, if not quite, exhausted.
Chinchilla, a rodent of S. America, hunted for its fur, which is soft and of a grey colour; found chiefly in the mountainous districts of Peru and Chile.
Chinese Gordon, General Gordon, killed at Khartoum; so called for having, in 1851, suppressed a rebellion in China which had lasted 15 years.
Chinook, a tribe of Indians in Washington Territory, noted for flattening their skulls. ”

“ It maddened the recreant follower of Ramirez to think of Chinita in the power of such a man. That day the last wild escapade of the lawless adventurer, the torture of Pedro, had in some way reached the ears of Ruiz and destroyed a lingering hope he had cherished that the girl, proud and hard though he believed her, had in some impulse of affection gone to her foster-father,—a thought that he had not even hinted to Doña Isabel, for with petty spite he refrained from uttering that which he imagined might give relief to her long agony. ”