No. i57y. THE PULQUE OF MEXICO— HOUGH. 591 



visit him a prominent man named Papantzin, accompanied by his 

 beautiful daughter Xochitl. The maiden presented to the chief a jar 

 of pulque, of which he and his attendants drank and were pleased 

 with the effects which followed. Xochitl told Tepancaltzin that the 

 beverage was obtained fi"om the maguey plant, fi-om which a whitish 

 and sweet juice was extractetl and on fermentation became pulque. 

 Tepancaltzin, intoxicated by the pulque prepared by Papantzin' s 

 daughter, and infatuated with her beauty, fell in love with her and 

 married her. Thus Xochitl became queen of Tollan, and she bore 

 Tepancaltzin a child who was called Meconetzin, "the son of the 

 pulque, " a name given him to commemorate the discovery and inven- 

 tion of the pulque made by his mother, Xochitl. It is said that Tepan- 

 caltzin and Xochitl were killed in a battle when the Toltecs were 

 destroyed, and Meconetzin, the last chief, never came to his own." 



Like most aboriginal legends, it may contain a kernel of truth and 

 refer to some historical event, long subsequent, however, to the actual 

 knowledge of the fermented sap of the agave, which was acquired at 

 some stage of the utilization of the plant. 



There was great scarcity of animal food on the plateau of ^lexico, 

 and to satisfy the craving for such food, lly larva? from the lake, liz- 

 ards and the like, were eaten. Especially prized and sought were the 

 larva? of an insect which bores the fleshy leaves of the agave, a fat 

 white grub about 1 inch long whose scientific name is Acentrocneme 

 Icollari Felder, called by the Mexicans guson, and in Nahuatl mescuillin. 

 It is figured in the Troano manuscript'' (fig. 10), and its characteristic 

 is seen to be the gnawing apparatus by which it tunnels the agave. 

 Gusones to this day are collected in April, 

 boiled, wrapped in the epidermis of the agave, 

 sold on the streets of ISIexico and are eaten 

 with avidity. To all appearances they are 

 nourishing and palatable, and it is said that 

 connoisseurs prefer them to oysters or swal- 

 lows' nests. 



The writer believes that the discovery of 

 the sap-yielding quality of the agave was fig. i9.-gusono gnawing 



J.1 1 1 J? il 1 THE AGAVE. MEXICAN 



through search tor these larva*. picture writing. 



The search for fd^er also no doubt brought about an early acquaint- 

 ance with the agave, which may have led to the knowledge of its stores 

 of sap. The finest whitish liber is found in the young unsheathed leaves 

 of the central spike, and the removal of these previous to the flower- 

 ing under certain conditions might have taught the important lesson. 



o Extracted from Etudio Quimico Industriel de los Varies Productes del Maguey 

 Mexicano. Jose G. Lobato, Mexico, Government, 1884. 



b Cyrus Thomas, Maya Codices, Gth Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. EtlmoL, p. 351. 



Proc. N. M. vol. xxxiii— 07 38 



