Stephens, in his Travels in Central America, does not omit to notice the cultivation of this insect, which was carried on extensively in the neighbourhood of the ruined city of La Antigua Guatimala. “Emerging from the city,” he says, “we entered the open plain, shut in by mountains, and cultivated to their base with cochineal. At about a mile’s distance we turned into the hacienda of Señor Vidaury. In the yard were four oxen grinding sugar-cane, and behind was his nopal or cochineal plantation, one of the largest in the Antigua. The plant is a species of cactus, set out in rows like Indian corn, and, at the time I speak of, it was about four feet high. On every leaf was pinned with a thorn a piece of cane, in the hollow of which were thirty or forty insects. These insects cannot move, but breed, and the young crawl out and fasten upon the leaf. When they have once fixed, they never move; a light film gathers over them, and as they feed, the leaves become mildewed and white. At the end of the dry season some of the leaves are cut off and hung up in a storehouse for seed, the insects are brushed off from the rest and dried, and are then sent to minister to the luxuries and elegancies of civilized life, and enliven with their bright colours the _salons_ of London, Paris, and St. Louis in Missouri. The crop is valuable, but uncertain, as an early rain may destroy it, and sometimes all the workmen are taken away for soldiers at the moment when they are most needed for its culture. The situation was ravishingly beautiful, at the base and under the shade of the Volcano de Agua, and the view was bounded on all sides by mountains of perpetual green; the morning air was soft and balmy, but pure and refreshing. With good government and good laws, and one’s friends around, I never saw a more beautiful spot on which man could desire to pass his allotted time on earth.” [Illustration: 1. BRANCH COVERED WITH LAC. 2. SMALL TWIG LADEN WITH LAC. 3. PORTION OF LAC (_magnified_). 4, 5, 6. LAC INSECT IN ITS SEVERAL FORMS. ] CHAPTER VII. MANUFACTURE OF GUM LAC BY THE LAC INSECT.