On the Commerce of Mexico. 385 
with it, and which were collected by the missionaries who 
came to the country in the early days of the Spanish occu- 
pation; one of these is the destruction of a race of giants 
indigenous to the valleys of Atogqac and Matlacuege (llax- 
cala), and of cruel propensities, by more civilized races who 
had come to settle there; the former having fallen asleep 
from the somniferous effects of the juice of the maguey, 
whilst the discovery of the juice itself, whether under its 
ancient denomination of “metl,” “agua-miel” (honey- 
water), or pulque, was attributed by a portion of the an- 
cient inhabitants of Mexico to the god Izquitecatl, as 
would appear from various symbolical inscriptions found in 
the country. More modern tradition has fixed the epoch 
of its discovery as having been about the year 1045 to 
1050, under the reign of the eighth king of the Tal‘ec tribe, 
named Tepancaltzin, at whose court a relation of his 
named Pepantzin presented himself, and informed him 
that his daughter had discovered that a sweet and aromatic 
liquid sprung forth from the met! plants in her garden. 
The king ordered her into his presence, and she brought 
him a “tecomatl,” or vase, of the liquid she had discovercd, 
which he tasted, and then ordered her to bring him more ; 
and subsequently becoming enamoured of the maiden, 
whose beauty was great, and whose name was Xochil, or 
“flower,” he married her, of which union a child was born, 
to whom was given the name of Mcconetzin, or “son of 
the metl,” or maguey, in allusion to the circumstance 
which was the origin of his parent’s first interview. 
Whether the discovery of the use of the juice of the 
maguey is really to be attributed to the god Izquiticatl, 
or to the queen Xochil, there is no doubt that the divers 
properties of the plant itself were known many years before 
the discovery of Mexico by the Spaniards; for not only is 
it mentioned as furnishing thorny scourges, as well as 
whips made of the fibres of the plant’s leaves, for the mul- 
titudes who annually met to celebrate a festival in honour 
of the god Texcat lipuca in the great temple of Tenoch- 
titlau (the modern Mexico), but the use of the juice became 
so general, that many severe laws against the drunkenness 
resulting from it were issued by the ancient Mexican kings, 
mention being made of a widow who sold it promiscuously 
having been put to death by order of the King Netzahual- 
cogatl; only women suckling infants, old people, and sol- 
diers upon the march being allowed to drink it. 
As we have before said, notwithstanding that the prim- 
