Show r 6 know you not that pulque Is n a liquor divine and that angels in heaven prefer it to aine lne 0 SING the mexicans of 0 their national drink a beve beverage rage whose history dates from the earliest times yet to which tho the millions ot of modern mexico swear as faithful allegiance le legi ance as did the ancient toltec nearly a thousand years ago from the plains of abam and other pulque producing districts adjacent over one hundred carloads of this alleged divine liquor are rushed each day to the pulque rias of the city of mexico to satisfy the thirst of nt the natives who spend a total of more than a day tor for the beverage daily trips are necessary because pulque will not keep any length ot of time in 24 hours it loses e every trace ot of its former divinity and becomes a nauseating miss mess that smells to high heaven pulque Is a fermented liquor containing about 6 per cent alcohol it is made from the cap of 0 certain kinds of 0 maguey in the united states we call it the century plant because of the saying that it blooms only once in a hundred years in mexico however the pulque producing maguey comes to full maturity in from rom seven to ten years the growing ot of maguey for the manufacture ot of pulque is one ot of the most important and profitable industries in mexico the maguey is a variety ot of cactus ot of which 33 kinds are given the ithe general name of maguey they thrive on the mexican plateau and it if we except cigarettes represent all that the average mexican cares for in life into a maguey field he may go hungry and naked from the edges ot of the leaves he can procure a needle to which Is attached a strong thread while from the leat leaf itself he gets the material to make the abe cloth for a suit of clothes he builds a house and shingles it with the dried leaves the fiber ot of the leaves he be twists into ropes and the ropes into mats tor for making beds and chairs he builds a fire with the idries stalks and cooks ahe dried roots tor for lood food what he does not need he sells to the vinegar factory or the mo me gasses mill or the paper works tor for many pesos apesos which enable him to marry then having clothed himself and built and furnished a house bouse and satisfied his hunger and filled his pockets with money and married a wife he takes the sap which has col elected in the stump of his old maguey ferments it into pulque and proceeds to celebrate his prosperity by getting gloriously drunk what more could sinful mortal ask and the mexican may have all that from the humble maguey I 1 on the plains of 0 abam near the city of mexico the maguey is said to attain its greatest perfection there on the great plantations the huge spiky greenish gray plants looking tor for all the world like monster artichokes stretch away in symmetrical rows tor for miles aniles and miles there are no fences ot of any kind and the scene is unbroken save for an occasional hacienda with its ats tort fort like walls and towers millions of dollars are invested in the pulque business the man who goes into it must either buy a matured plantation which costs a princely sum or purchase many acres of land oung boung shoots from some old field and then wait from seven to ton ten years tor for the plants to produce true it if the soil be fertile the hardy maguey needs little or no care meanwhile when ready to produce each plant plait is valued at from ten to twelve dollars comes flowering time and from the center of the cluster of great fibrous leaves some ten feet long a toot foot wide and almost as thick at the base maguey sends up a giant flower stalk this stalk grows rapidly to a height of from twenty to thirty feet it if allowed to flower it bursts into bloom with magical suddenness several thousand greenish yellow flowers appearing almost at once on the stalk after which the he plant dies it Is during the flowering time that the or pulque harvesters with their gourd pipettes pi Ii pettes and pigskin receptacles may be seen scattered throughout the fields and watching with alert eyes for it Is their duty to tap the plant just before the stalk bursts into bloom at the right instant which only the experienced experienc eI harvesters know the flower stem is cut oft off short and the heart r of the remaining stump is boll hollowed owed out to form a basin basia as wide as a washbowl and from one to two feet deep into this basin flows the sap that nature intended should give life and beauty to the flowers the thrusts one end of his gourd pipette into the liquid now called or honey water with his mouth he draws on the other end and the honey water la Is sucked into the gourd then it Is emptied into the pigskin which the harvester carries slung across his shoulders the agu aguamiel amiel ta Is pleasantly sweet golden in color and not disagreeable to the smell two or three times a day the liquid must be drawn oft off the average maguey will yield from ten to fifteen pints dally daily tor for two or three months and then it dies from plant to plant the harvester goes goes until the pigskin Is filled then with much grunting he shifts the bulging pigskin to an easier position and with the tour four pig legs stuck out in ludicrous positions the mexican shuffles away to where his mule waits with two iwo stone jars or tin cans slung across his back he empties the pigskin into the cans and when they are full he takes the mule and its burden ot of aguamiel agu amiel to the fermenting room there the honey water is emptied into vats ats A portion of the sap has bar already been gathered and allowed to ferment for about ten days it is now called madre pulque and is used as a yeast to hasten the fermentation of the fresh sap A little of the mother pulque Is added to the sweet aguamiel agu amiel arniel fermentation begins almost instantly and goes on rapidly in 24 hours the honey wa ter is fr converted into finished pulque ready for the market the finished pulque Is whitish in color but otherwise is unlike anything I 1 else under the sun it has a taste and odor decidedly its own the taste to the americans is indescribable but reminds one of spoiled buttermilk only sweeter the odor is very much like that df bt ancient eggs the mexicans claim that pulque Is god od tor for the stomach and they gulp down great quantities with gusto americans do not readily learn to 1 fike ike it by holding ones nostrils very tightly closed it is possible to get some of the stuff down but quite often when the nostrils are released the pulque comes back up the finished pulque is quickly run into large casks and loaded on to trains there are a number of long trains carrying nothing but pulque that wind their way out of the maguey plantations each morning aud and hasten into the city of mexico where the liquor Is quickly transferred to the pul quer qu erias las these are not at all difficult to find over the front door there is usually strung a lot of varicolored tissue paper reminding one of carnival days back in the states where the tissue paper Is missing the odor of the pulque serves as an unfailing guide and after all pulque may be said to be the drink of the masses its cheapness makes it so you can lean out of the car window in almost any city or village in central mexico and buy a drink of pulque tor for a penny from three to five cents will buy a quart the bottled pulque which is said to be really excellent and has occasionally been indorsed endorsed indor sed by physicians costs a trifle more at times the mexican desires a stronger drink than pulque then he may drink tequila also made from the maguey but of a different variety this is a fiery liquor that is distilled from the roots of the plant in the state of jalisco Jall on the slopes of the mountain called el cerro do de tequila the tequila industry has reached its ita highest development and millions of pesos apesos worth of the liquor Is shipped out annually or the man with a thirst may have mescal a fiery colorless liquor which Is also distilled from the maguey both tequila and mescal are harmless ap drinks but they it have ave a kick like an army mule A mexican peon who when sober may be frightened at the sight of a homed toad usually feels when drunk on tequila tequilla or mescal and armed with witha a machete or knife equal to slaughtering all the rest ot of mexico and occasionally starts out to boso doso do so notwithstanding the popularity of mescal tequila rum wine and beer and in spite of the tact fact that mexico imports each year over worth of liquors much of which Is champagne for the gilded youth of the cities the consumption of the divine pulque goes on unabated As tar far back as 1625 efforts were made to stop its ita manufacture and sale edict after edict was issued against pulque but each one seemed only to irritate the masses and literally drive them to drink more pulque when was pulque first made quien sabe there Is a tradition that about a thousand years ago when the wel wa rj r like held sway in mexico a certain man one day discovered a field mouse gnawing at the flower stalk of a growing maguey after frightening the mouse away his bis attention was attracted to the golden fluid which quickly filled the hole the mouse had made he tasted it and found it good A large quantity of the honey water was gathered and the mans beautiful daughter m aas as sent at once to carry the golden liquor to then king of the by the time the girl arrived at the kings palace the fluid had fermented and was what la is now called pulque the king tasted it it was good but over the golden bowl from which the king drank his hungry eyes feasted upon the lovely maiden who had bad brought the gift the result was that the ungrateful old reprobate decided to keep the golden liquor and also the beautiful girl while the king was making the maiden a prisoner in his harem the servants gathered round and drank up the rest of the pulque they were unused to tile the liquor of course and presently each one of them felt that he himself was as much a king as any man who ever walked in due course of time the maiden bore bare a child tor for the king by that time the whole toltec nation including the king himself was worshiping at the shrine of the blanco bentli as they called the pulque and so they named the infant the child of 0 the maguey from that day to this a steady and mighty river of pulque has flowed and continues to flow from the great maguey plantations down the throats of the thirsty children ohe 0 the maguey |