nd the reaping takes place in
April or May. By this means the seed is left in the ground throughout
all the rainy season. In February violent frost frequently comes on
during the night, by which the seed is so much injured that the harvest
fails, and the scarcity occasions severe suffering and even famine. When
the cold clear nights create apprehensions of damage to the seed, the
people form themselves into processions, and go through the villages
and towns imploring the mercy of Heaven. In the dead of the night it is
no unusual thing to be aroused by the ringing of bells. The inhabitants
then get up and hurry to church, where the solemn processions are
formed. Penitents clothed in sackcloth go through the streets, scourging
themselves; and the Indians, in their native language, utter prayers and
offer up vows to Heaven. For the space of some hours an incessant
movement and agitation pervade the streets, and when day begins to dawn
the people return to their homes, trembling between hope and fear. The
fate of the Indians, when their harvest fails them, is indeed truly
miserable, for, abstemious as they are, they can scarcely procure
wherewith to satisfy their hunger. In the year 1840, which was a period
of scarcity, I saw the starving Indian children roaming about the
fields, and eating the grass like cattle.

Maize is the species of grain most extensively cultivated in the Sierra:
it is of excellent quality, though smaller than that grown on the coast.
Wheat, though it thrives well, is cultivated only in a very limited
quantity, and the bread made from it is exceedingly bad. The other
species of European grain, barley excepted, are unknown to the Serranos.
To compensate for the want of them, they have the quinua (_Chenopodium
Quinoa_, L.), which is at once a nutritious, wholesome, and pleasant
article of food. The leaves of this plant, before it attains full
maturity, are eaten like spinach; but it is the seeds which are most
generally used as food. They are prepared in a variety of ways, but most
frequently boiled in milk or in broth, and sometimes cooked with cheese
and Spanish pepper. The dried stems of the quinua are used as fuel.
Experiments in the cultivation of this plant have been tried in some
parts of Germany, and with considerable success. It would appear,
however, that its flavor is not much liked; a circumstance rather
surprising to the traveller who has tasted it in Peru, where it is
regarded in the light