THE AGAVE AND PINE-APPLE 117 



daily, during a period of two or three months. Thus a single 

 aL,^ave, or maguey, gives about a hundred and fifty bottles ; and 

 though the plant perishes in consequence, and produces but 

 once after ten or fifteen years, its culture must be profitable, as 



extensive fields of it cover the Mexican plains at an elevation 

 of 7000 feet above the sea. After standing for a short time, 

 tlie sweet juice undergoes a vinous fermentation, and the 

 stranger, when once accustomed to its disagreeable odour, 

 piefers the pulqiie to all other wines, and joins in the enthu- 

 siastic praises of the Mexican. The consumption is enormous ; 

 and before the revolution, which severed the country from the 

 ynke of Spain, the revenue derived from a very small municipal 

 duty exacted on the pulque at the gates of Mexico and La 

 Puebla averaged 600,000 dollars.* 



But the use of the agave is not confined to the production of 

 a vinous liquor, as the tough fibres of its leaves furnish an 

 excellent material for the strongest ropes, or the formation of 

 coarse cloth. Long before the conquest of the country by 

 Cortez, the aborigines applied the agave to a great variety of 

 purposes. P>om it they made their paper (pieces of which of 

 various thickness are still found covered with curious hiero- 

 glyphic writing), their threads, their needles (from its sharp 

 points), and many articles of clothing and cordage. 



The American bromelias likewise resemble the aloes of torrid 

 Africa by the form and arrangement of their leaves. To this 

 useful family belongs the pine-apple {Bromelia Ananas\ which 

 grows best and largest in Brazil, where it is so common that 

 the pigs fatten on the fruit. Formerly confined in our country 

 to the tables of the wealthier classes as long as it was only 

 supplied by our hot-houses, it can now be enjoyed at a very 

 moderate expense, since thousands are imported by every 

 West Indian steamer. 



The leaves of several species of bromelia furnish excellent 

 twine for ropes. The inhabitants of the banks of the river San 

 Francisco, in Brazil, weave their fishing-nets with the fibres of 

 the Caroa {B, variegata\ and the filaments of the Crauata de 

 rede {B. sagenamd) furnish a cordage of amazing strength and 

 durability. Koster mentions in his " Travels in Brazil " (1816), 



^ Ward's "Mexico," 1827. 

 I 3 



