232 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. XIII. 



feast-days, but at other times are a sober race. They do 

 not owe the introduction of intemperance to the Spaniards, 

 though they can now obtain stronger liquor than in the 

 old times, as the ancient Indians do not appear to have 

 known how to distil ; but they made several kinds of 

 fermented liquors. In Mexico the chief drink was the 

 " pulque," the fermented juice of the agave or maguey 

 plant. In Nicaragua "chicha," a kind of light beer, 

 made from maize, is still the favourite Indian beverage. 

 On the warmer plains, the wine-palm (Cocos butyracea) 

 is grown. I saw many of them near San Ubaldo. The 

 wine is very simply prepared. The tree is felled, and an 

 oblong hole cat into it, just below the crown of leaves. 

 This hole is eight inches deep, passing nearly through 

 the trunk. It is about a foot long and four inches broad ; 

 and in this hollow the juice of the tree immediately 

 begins to collect, scarcely any running out at the butt 

 where it has been cut off. This tendency of the sap to 

 ascend is well shown in another plant, the water liana. 

 To get the water from this it must be cut first as high as 

 one can reach ; then about a foot from the ground, and 

 out of a length of about seven feet, a pint of fine cool 

 water will run ; but if cut at the bottom first, the sap 

 will ascend so rapidly that very little will be obtained. 

 In three days after cutting the wine-palm the hollow will 

 be filled with a clear yellowish wine, the fermented juice 

 of the tree ; and this will continue to secrete daily for 

 twenty days, during which the tree will have yielded 

 some gallons of wine. I was told that a very large grove 

 of these trees were cut down by the Government near 

 Granada, on account of the excesses of the Indians, who 

 used to assemble there on their festivals; and get drunk 



