two nights. On the morning after the second night, if 
the tops of the mescals are not done, the hearts are re- 
moved and the fire rebuilt under the rocks. Then the 
hearts are turned over, replaced in the pit, covered again 
and left for another day. If still not sufficiently cooked, 
they may remain in the pit-oven an extra day. 
Upon removal, the hearts and leat-bases are loaded 
into gunny sacks and baskets and taken to the house. 
They are either eaten by themselves or oftentimes with 
acorn drink, *‘gue huali’’ (Spanish: esquiate), or a corn 
gruel, ‘‘atonali’’ (Spanish: atole). The sweet flesh of the 
heart is eaten and the fibres spit out. The heart 1s some- 
times ground and mixed with tortilla dough. The prepa- 
ration and consumption of agaves have been described 
for other areas of the Tarahumara region (Pennington, 
1963: 129-131; Bennett and Zingg, 1985: 148-149). 
The hearts of Agave pacifica, A. Shreve, A. multifilifera 
and f. polianthiflora and the leaf-bases of 4. americana 
var. evpansa, A. multifilifera and A. polianthiflora are all 
pit-baked and eaten. 
‘Sugui’’ (Spanish: tesgiiino), a fermented beverage, 
‘an also be made from the well cooked mescal. In areas 
where agaves are plentiful, only the leaf-bases are used. 
In other areas, the hearts are also used. ‘The mescal is 
thoroughly mashed in a trough or hollow rock with a 
large mallet cut from the limb of an oak (Quercus spp. ). 
The juice is collected and strained, first through a coarse 
basket, then a cloth. After straining, the sweet Juice is 
cooked ina large pot by women, until all of the impuri- 
ties have come to the top and are skimmed off. Follow- 
ing the cooking, the juice is placed in a large-mouthed 
pot to cool and then put into a fermenting pot, ‘‘sicoli 
ronela’’ (Spanish: botija), where it is left for two or three 
days. The process can be speeded up by adding the juice 
of sprouted corn (Zea Mays) that has been ground, cooked 
. 
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