AGAVE. PULQUE. ORDER COLCHICACILE. 539 



which are composed the ropes that are commonly used there 

 in the mines ; and on the Western coast of that part of America, 

 rigging for ships is made of them. The Mexicans cultivate it 

 largely, however, for another purpose. When the Agave has 

 arrived at maturity, a spirituous liquor is obtained by tapping 

 the stem, which is a favourite beverage of the lower classes, 

 under the name of Pulque. A good plant yields from eight to 

 fifteen pints of pulque per day, during two or even three months ; 

 and the large quantity consumed may be judged of from the 

 fact that, before the Revolution, a very small municipal duty 

 exacted at the gates of the two large towns, Mexico and La 

 Puebla, upon the pulque brought into them, amounted to about 

 f 170, 000 sterling a year. Several species of Aloe are capable 

 of affording very strong and valuable fibres ; and among these 

 is one known in the West Indies, under the name of the silk- 

 grass-plant, the fibres of which are so extremely like those of 

 white silk, that the importation of them into some countries is 

 forbidden, in order to prevent imposition. 



718. Nearly allied to the Lily tribe is one, of which the 

 members are as distinguished for their poisonous properties, as 

 for the beauty of their flowers. This is the COLCHICACE.E or 

 Meadwo Saffron tribe, the flower of which, like the Lilies, has 

 a double perianth, all whose parts are alike in form, size, and 

 colour; it has also six stamens, and a superior three-celled 

 ovarium. The Colchicum (Meadow Saffron) itself is very like a 

 Crocus in its flower ; but its superior ovarium prevents it from 

 being confounded with the tribe to which that belongs. Other 

 species approach very closely in general aspect to the Aspho- 

 deleae ; but they may be easily distinguished by three marks. 

 In the first place, they have no bulbs, but a solid knob or swollen 

 under-ground stem, like that of the Crocus ; secondly, the face of 

 the anthers is turned, as in the Irideae, to the outer side of the 

 flower; and thirdly, the styles of the several carpels remain 

 distinct, so that there are three instead of one. The Meadow 

 Saffron is remarkable for the singular form of its flower, and for 

 the mode in which it is connected with the bulb ; the portions 

 of the perianth are united so as to form a tube, and this is 



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