CHARACTERS. 



617 



offices in which they are em- 

 ployed. 



Themaguei, called by the Mexi- 

 cans met), by the Spaniards pita, 

 is one of the most common and 

 most useful plants of Mexico, 

 from it is made a kind of wine, 

 which is called octli by the Mexi- 

 cans, and by the Spaniards pul- 

 que. Pulque is neither a Spanish 

 nor a Mexican word, but is taken 

 from the Araucan language, which 

 is spoken in Chili, in which the 

 pulcu is the general name for the 

 beverages these Indians use to in- 

 toxicate themselves : it is difficult 

 to say how the term has passed 

 into Mexico. The method of 

 making it is this : wlien the maguei, 

 or Mexican aloe, arrives at a cer- 

 tain height and maturity, they cut 

 the stem, or rather the leaves, 

 while tender, of which the stem 

 is formed, after which there re- 

 mains a certain cavity. They 

 shave the internal surface of the 

 large leaves which surround the 

 cavity, and collect the sweet juice 

 which distils from them in such 

 abundance, that one single plant 

 generally yields in the space of 

 six months, six hundred, and in 

 the whole time of its fruitfulness, 

 more than two thousand pounds 

 weight. They gather the juice 

 from the cavit)' with a long nar- 

 row gourd, and pour it into a 

 vessel where it ferments in less 

 than twenty- four hours. To 

 assist the fermentation, and make 

 the beverage stronger, they infuse 

 a certain herb, which they name 

 ocpatli, or remedy of wine. The 

 colour of this wine is white ; the 

 taste is a little rough, and its 

 strength sufficient to intoxicate, 

 though not so much as wine of 

 the grape. In other respects it is 



a wholesome liquor, and valuable 

 on many accounts, as it is an excel- 

 lent diuretic, and a powerful re- 

 medy against the diarrhoea. The 

 consumption made of pulque is 

 most surprising, as well as profit- 

 able, for the Spaniards become 

 rich by it. The revenue pro- 

 duced by the pulque alone, which 

 is consumed in the capital city of 

 Mexico, amounts annually to three 

 hundred thousand dollars, one 

 Mexican rial, only, being paid as 

 duty for every twenty-five Cas- 

 tilian pounds weight. The quan- 

 tity of pulque which was con- 

 sumed in the capital, in the year 

 1774, was 2,214,294 arrobas. 

 Every day are brought into the 

 city of Mexico upwards of six 

 thousand arrobas of pulque ; but 

 in this computation we do not 

 comprehend what is introduced 

 by smuggling, nor that which the 

 Indians, who are privileged, sell 

 in the principal square of the city. 

 Pulque will not keep above one 

 day, and therefore what is made 

 is daily consumed. 



The daily consumption of to- 

 bacco for smoking, in the capital, 

 is reckoned at one thousand two 

 hundred and fifty dollars, or there- 

 abouts, which in one year makes 

 the sum of four hundred and fifty 

 thousand dollars. But it is ne- 

 cessary to be understood, that 

 among the Indians very few use 

 tobacco; among the Europeans, 

 Creoles, Mulattoes, and negroes, 

 great numbers also do not use it. 



Tobacco is a name taken from 

 the Cubean language. The Mexi- 

 cans had two species of it very 

 different in the size of the plant, 

 leaves, and in the figure of the 

 flower, as well as in the colour 

 of the seed. The smallest plant, 



