ICO EXTRACT. 



"The honey, nr juice, is of an agreeably bitter sweet flavour, anil fer- 

 ments readily from the sugar and mucilage with which it abounds, this 

 process being hastened by the addition of some old and acid pulque. This 

 vinous liquor resembles cider, but diffuses a disgusting smell ot decayed 

 meat, which Europeans have some difficulty in overcoming. Those, however 

 who have accustomed themselves to the beverage, consider it as strengthen- 

 ing, stomachic, and particularly nulrit'ne, recommending it, peculiarly, to 

 persons of a meagre habit; and I have seen many whites, who, totally dis- 

 continuing water, beer, and wine, drink only the pulque, like so many Mex- 

 icans. The cause of the fetid smell of this liquor is variously attribured to 

 the mode of preparation, the manure used for the soil, and the different 

 materials in which the fermentation is carried on ; and I only regret, that I 

 was unable, for want of proper apparatus, to ascertain this curious point in 

 vegetable chemistry. By distillation a most intoxicating liquor is obtained 

 from pulque, which is called Mexical, or aguardiente (fire water) of Ma- 

 guay. The plant which is preferred for this purpose, appeared to me smal- 

 ler, and its foliage more glaucous than the common kind ; but not having 

 seen it in blossom, [ cannot pronounce it to be specifically distinct. 



" But not only is the Agave the Mexican vine, but it holds the place ot 

 Asiatic hemp and the Egyptian paper-reed (Cyperus Papyrus). The anlient 

 manuscripts of this country consisted in hieroglyphics, often inscribed on a 

 paper made of numerous layers of the Agave leaf, macerated in water, and 

 glued together in the same manner as the pith of papyrus and the bark 

 of the paper mulbery of the Pacific Isles. I brought away many antient 

 specimens of this fabric, some as thick as pasteboard, others as thin as fine 

 India paper, which are the more interesting, as all the Mexican records 

 hitherto discovered and still preserved at Rome and in Spain, are inscribed 

 on the skins of the Mexican Deer. No thread is so much prized by phy- 

 sicians in Europe as that which is extracted from agave leaves, which are 

 sometimes ten feet long, fifteen inches wide and eight thick, because it is 

 not liable to twist ; though the fibre of the New Zealand (lax (Phomhim 

 tenax) excels it in tenacity. Twine, thread and rope are made of it; the 

 latter is employed in the mines, and on the western coast, for rigging the 

 ships. The common juice of the plant, or that which it yields when not 

 about to blossom, is highly caustic, and useful for cleansing wounds ; while 

 the thorny points of the leaves, like those of the cactus, used to serve the 

 Indians lor, nails and needles. The Mexican priests were accustomed to 

 inflict wounds in that manner on their breasts and arms by way of expia- 

 tion, as do the Buddhists in Hindoostan." 



" Rarely as the American aloe blossoms in this part of Europe, a friend 

 of mine, who lately visited the shores of the Mediterranean in the north of 

 Spain, tells me that the brown withered flowering stems often stand there as 

 tall, strong and thick as the masts of small vessels in a harbour, and are 

 sometimes used for thatching. The height of this stalk varies from twenty 

 to forty feet, and expands like a rich candelabrum, its arms clustered with 

 golden yellow flowers. An extract from the foliage, when made into balls, 

 will lather water like soap; and finally, the centre of the flower-stalk cut 

 longitudinally is by no means a had substitute for the European razor-strop 

 owing to the minute particles of silex forming one of its constituents, in the 

 same way as the Dutch rushes, or stems of the horsetail (Equisetum) are 

 employed to polish ivory and brass. My friend William Christy, Esq. 

 when writing from Guernsey last autumn (1 £37) says, "in this delightful 

 climate, an agave Americana is just coining into flower, in the street of 

 St. Pierre Port. It is twenty five years old, and already thirty feet high ; 

 and has always stood in the open air, summer and winter, without any 



protection." 



[Bot Mag. 



