SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



69 



grease had amply accumulated, pointed out to 

 us, however, the means of remedying the defi- 

 ciency. But though, probably, many a hungry 

 appetite had been appeased off this table, yet 

 I doubt whether it had ever received a table- 

 cloth, or undergone the purification of wash- 

 ing, since its first construction. We were, 

 however, fortunately in some degree inde- 

 pendent of our situation, as we had brought 

 provisions with us ; and after our meal, our 

 mattresses being spread on the benches, the 

 night was heaven compared to what we had 

 experienced on the other side of Xalapa. 



A few miles before we reached Perote we 

 had come to large plantations of the great 

 American aloe (Agava Americana). It is 

 grown in considerable quantities, but this was 

 the first plantation of it we had met with. 

 From it is made the favourite liquor of the 

 Mexicans called pulque. Intending to ex- 

 amine it more at leisure, we rose before the 



