“Having thus far given an account of the different articles used as aliment by the aborigines of the peninsula, I will now proceed to describe in what manner they prepare their victuals. They do not cook, boil, or roast like people in civilized countries, because they are neither acquainted with these methods nor possessed of vessels and utensils to employ for such purposes; and, besides, their patience would be taxed beyond endurance if they had to wait till a piece of meat is well cooked or thoroughly roasted. Their whole process simply consists in burning, singeing, or roasting in an open fire all such victuals as are not eaten in a raw state. Without any formalities, the piece of meat, the fish, bird, snake, field mouse, bat, or whatever it may be is thrown into the flames or on the glowing embers, and left there to smoke and to sweat for about a quarter of an hour; after which the article is withdrawn, in most cases only burned or charred on the outside, but still raw and bloody within. As soon as it has become sufficiently cool, they shake it a little in order to remove the adhering dust or sand, and eat it with great relish. Yet I must add here, that they do not previously take the trouble to skin the mice or disembowel the rats, nor deem it necessary to clean the half-emptied entrails and maws of larger animals, which they have to cut in pieces before they can roast them. Seeds, kernels, grasshoppers, green caterpillars, the white worms already mentioned, and similar things that would be lost, on account of their smallness, in the embers and flames of an open fire, are parched on hot coals, which they constantly throw up and shake in a turtle shell or a kind of frying pan woven out of a certain plant. What they have parched or roasted in this manner is ground to powder between two stones, and eaten in a dry state. Bones are treated in like manner. “They eat everything unsalted, though they might obtain plenty of salt; but since they cannot dine every day on roast meat and constantly change their quarters, they would find it too cumbersome to carry always a supply of salt with them. “The preparation of the aloë, also called _mescale_ or _maguey_ by the Spaniards, requires more time and labor. The roots, after being properly separated from the plants, are roasted for some hours in a strong fire, and then buried, twelve or twenty together, in the ground, and well covered with hot stones, hot ashes, and earth. In this state they have to remain for twelve or fourteen hours, and when dug out again they are of a fine yellow color, and perfectly tender, making a very palatable dish, which has served me frequently as food when I had nothing else to eat, or as dessert after dinner in lieu of fruit. But they act at first as a purgative on persons who are not accustomed to them, and leave the throat somewhat rough for a few hours afterwards.