88 TROPICAL FRUITS AND PULQUE. 
two distant; but as these are kept filthy by 
the offal that is thrown into them, the in-. 
habitants who are able to buy it, procure 
most of their water for drinking and culina- 
ry purposes, from the aguadores, who pack it, 
on asses, usually in large jars, from the spring. 
This is the first Northern city in which 
there is to be found any evidence of that va- 
riety of tropical fruits, for which Southern 
Mexico is so justly famed. Although it was 
rather out of season, yet the market actually 
teemed with all that is most rich and exqui- 
site in this kind of produce. The s2aguey, 
from which is extracted the popular beverage 
called pulque,* is not only cultivated exten- 
sively in the fields, but grows wild every 
where upon the plains. This being the 
height of the pulque season, a hundred shan- 
ties might be seen loaded with j jugs and gob- - 
lets filled with this favorite liquor, fiém its 
sweetest unfermented state to the grade of 
‘hard cider; while the incessant cries of 
“Pulque! pulque dulce! pulque bueno!” 
added to the shrill and discordant notes of 
the fruit venders, created a confusion of 
* Also, from the Pulque is distilled a spiritous liquor called mez- 
cal, maguey (Agave Americana) is besides much used fo 
hedging. It here performs the double purpose of a cheap and sub- 
stantial fence, and of rian equally valuable for pul When no 
longer serviceable in these ca apacities, the pulpy stalk is converted, 
Y¥ roasting, into ccleaien item of food, while the fibrous blades, 
being suitably case, are still more useful. ey are manufac- 
tured into He st bags, etc., which resemble those made of the com- 
mon sea. the fibres are finer. There is one species 
(w wha dine 4 not ane pulq te, however), whose fibres, known 
in that coun seed as pita, are nearly as fine as dressed hemp, and are 
generally for sewing shoes, sad@ery, and similar purposes — 
