42 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



touch. In the regions where it abounds the hemispheres formed by the 

 radiating leaves — four or five feet in diameter and height — are con- 

 spicuous objects in the scenery over thousands of square miles ; from 

 which it will be seen that the supply of material afforded by this 

 plant is practically inexhaustible. The part which is used is the sum- 

 mit of the trunk, composed of the closely imbricated and thickened 

 bases of the leaves. This is an ovoid mass from six inches to one foot 

 in diameter, which at all times, and particularly before the period of 

 florescence, contains a large amount of farinaceous and. saccharine 

 matter. When fresh it is tender and well flavored, and in that form 

 would keep one from starvation ; but, when roasted, it is much better, 

 and constitutes an excellent and delicate vegetable. In traveling 

 through that country I have made a lunch on a fraction of one of these 

 roasted heads with great satisfaction to myself. It is, however, not 

 used for food, except in emergencies. The Comanches and Lipans, 

 the aboriginal inhabitants of this region, when pursued, found an un- 

 failing resource in the sotol, and it is certainly impossible to starve 

 those who have access to it. The most important use made of the 

 sotol is to manufacture from it a kind of whisky, which is known as 

 mescal, but is quite different from the other kinds. This liquor is 

 made in a very simple way. A small still is taken to some spring or 

 water-course where the sotol abounds, and there rudely set up ; 

 the plant is then collected by cutting off the leaves with a machtte, 

 leaving a cabbage-like head. This is severed from the root, loaded 

 onto donkeys, and brought to the mnata, or distillery, where it is 

 roasted. This is effected in a pit four or five feet deep and ten or 

 twelve feet in diameter, lined with blocks of stone at the sides and 

 bottom. Fuel is heaped into this pit and fired ; when the fire is burned 

 out the pit is filled with the heads of sotol. In the course of a few 

 hours they are somewhat irregularly roasted and steamed ; they are 

 then taken out, chopped in small pieces, thrown into vats, and allowed 

 to reach vinous fermentation. The liquid extracted from the pomace 

 is then distilled, making a white, peculiarly-flavored, but not disa- 

 greeable spirit, that is largely used in this region. Though less highly 

 esteemed than the more carefully-made mescal distilled from the 

 maguey, it is preferred to the whiskies made from corn or rye, and it 

 is certainly much less injurious. It is reported that delirium tremens 

 is unknown in the country where it is most xised, and I saw among the 

 people none of the usual effects of alcoholism either in their persons 

 or manners. The country where the sotol abounds is capable of fur- 

 nishing an unlimited quantity of alcohol, and it might, therefore, replace 

 the grains which are sacrificed to its manufacture in the United States. 

 Soap-Plaxts. — Chlorogalum 2)omericUanu7Ji (Amole). In the 

 valleys of California grows a tall, slender-stemmed liliaceous plant, 

 with purple and white flowers, which played an important part in the 

 economy of the Spanish population, and is still more or less used by 



