ECONOMIC CONDITION OF MEXICO. 



173 



rescence. Certain plants have thus yielded during the season as much as 

 2,000 or even 4,000 pounds of aguamicl, or sap, which may be drunk at once 

 slightly diluted with water. But it is usually allowed to ferment, and thus 

 changed to imlquo, which may also be consumed on the spot, or forwarded while 

 quite fresh to all the surrounding markets. The trunk line between Orizaba and 

 Mexico, as well as the other railways on the plateau, have their daily pulque trains, 

 each often conveying hundreds of tons of the liquor in all directioais. The term 

 imlque is taken from the Araucanian language of Chili, and it has not yet been 



Fia-. 72.--PuxQTjEEO. 







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made clear why it has been substituted by the Spaniards for the proper Aztec 

 name, octU. In the Nahua traditions its discovery was attributed to a prince, who, 

 as a reward, received the king's daughter in marriage. At first strangers find 

 pulque somewhat disagreeable, owing to its smell of " high " meat or old cheese ; 

 but, as a rule, they soon learn to relish this drink, the stomachic qualities of which 

 are much praised by medical men. In its composition it resembles mare's milk, 

 and of all fermented beverages peculiar to the Old World it ajDproaches nearest to 

 the koumiss of the Kirghiz nomads. Taken in large quantities it intoxicates like 



