[257] This noble bird was introduced into Europe from Mexico. The Spaniards called it _gallopavo_, from its resemblance to the peacock. See Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio (tom. iii. fol. 306); also Oviedo (Rel. Sumaria, cap. 38), the earliest naturalist who gives an account of the bird, which he saw soon after the Conquest, in the West Indies, whither it had been brought, as he says, from New Spain. The Europeans, however, soon lost sight of its origin, and the name “turkey” intimated the popular belief of its Eastern origin. Several eminent writers have maintained its Asiatic or African descent; but they could not impose on the sagacious and better-instructed Buffon. (See Histoire naturelle, art. _Dindon_.) The Spaniards saw immense numbers of turkeys in the domesticated state, on their arrival in Mexico, where they were more common than any other poultry. They were found wild, not only in New Spain, but all along the continent, in the less frequented places, from the Northwestern territory of the United States to Panamá. The wild turkey is larger, more beautiful, and every way an incomparably finer bird than the tame. Franklin, with some point, as well as pleasantry, insists on its preference to the bald eagle as the national emblem. (See his Works, vol. x. p. 63, in Sparks’s excellent edition.) Interesting notices of the history and habits of the wild turkey may be found in the Ornithology both of Buonaparte and of that enthusiastic lover of nature, Audubon, _vox Meleagris_, _Gallopavo_. [258] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, lib. 4, cap. 37; lib. 8, cap. 13; lib. 9, cap. 10-14.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 23.--Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. ii. fol. 306.--Father Sahagun has gone into many particulars of the Aztec _cuisine_, and the mode of preparing sundry savory messes, making, all together, no despicable contribution to the noble science of gastronomy. [259] The froth, delicately flavored with spices and some other ingredients, was taken cold by itself. It had the consistency almost of a solid; and the “Anonymous Conqueror” is very careful to inculcate the importance of “opening the mouth wide, in order to facilitate deglutition, that the foam may dissolve gradually, and descend imperceptibly, as it were, into the stomach.” It was so nutritious that a single cup of it was enough to sustain a man through the longest day’s march. (Fol. 306.) The old soldier discusses the beverage _con amore_. [260] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, lib. 4, cap. 37; lib. 8, cap. 13.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 23.--Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 306.