Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-09-05

4 PULoUE PEDDLER.
i The pulque product, however. is the most
profitable of any liquor production in Mexico
and many of these pulque plantations bring in
/ from ten to twelve thousand dollars year.
| know OF one man who gets 900 day from his
pulque hacienda The pulque plant is one of
! the most useful plants in the world. It's fiber
4 makes excellent thread and the Aztecs use its
j thorns for needles. They thatcb their houses
| with its leaves and in the days of Cortez they
| made paper out of it. This paper was like
| papyrus and there are old Aztec manuscripts
| In existence which were made in this way. A
| number of other liquors in addition to pulque
are produced from the plant, and in one dis
| trict very fine brandy called mescal is pro-
/ duced from it. and tcquila is another liquor.
much like Scotch whisky which comes from the
| maguey plant. The leaves of this plant con-
/ tain thousands of fibers and these make the
strongest kind of bagging and ropes, which are
equal in strength to linen.
| THE ORIGIN OF THE COCKTAIL"
The title of our most popular drink comes
] from Mexico. The Aztec word foc pulque is
pronounced much like ocktail. and Gen.
SCOTS troops called the liquor cocktail and
carried the word back to the United States. 1t
| Is said that the liquor discovered by q
| Toltec noble and that he sent it 10 the king by
the hand Of his daughter, Miss Cocktail
| (Aochitl). The king drank the liquor and then
] looked at the maiden. The first tickled his
palate, the second enamored his heart. 1t was
! II case of love at first sight in both instances
and he married the girl and started pulque
plantation. From that day to this the Mex
leans have kept themselves saturated with
| pulque, and Miss Cocktail is one OF the Senuses
| OF Mexican tradition.
] MEXICAN BRANDYKs
are very strong. There is one called aguardi-
| ente, which is made from sugar cane and which
| Is as strong as it is cheap. had a sore throat
| a few days ago and was advised to battle my
neck in this brandy. / found that it made the
| skin smart and concluded to see how much al
| cohol there was in ii. poured wine glass
| full of 1t on to my marble washstand and
touched a match to it. Is exploded like coal
| oil and blazed away for ten minutes Two
million dollars worth OF this brandy il made In
Mexico every year. 1t produces drunkenness
very quickly.
| EXPENSIVE VINES
Mexicans have some good wines, but they are
very dear, and an ordinary claret costs 81 a
bottle. The chief drinks at meals are coffee
| and chocolate. and the Mexican chocolate is de-
Ecious. 1t is favored with cinnamon and is
served quite sweet. There is always a foam on
the top of the cup, and in all the Mexican mar
! kets you will find chocolate mixers a little
| wooden stick with a knob on the end. much like
| that of a baby's rattle. You stand these on end
! III the chocolate and make the knob go around
y
hands
WHAT THE MExIcANs EAT.
Before came to Mexico l was told that
would find nothing good to eat in the country
Every one said that the hotels were horrible
and my friends patted their stomachs and
| looked at me with commiserating ewes. They
said that everything Mexican was a mixture of
| red pepper and grease and that the only good
hotels in the country were those kept by the
IL.
| tured into the land with fear and trembling
| and at first patronized t'e American hotels. l
| found them dear and nasty. The cooking was
aboninabe and the service was worse. | then
tried a Mexican hotel and found il excellent.
Some OF the best meals have ever had have
eaten in Mexico. and l shall not soon forget
dinner at Ioluca. where a pretty Mexican bow
/ gave me a dinner of ten courses and where the
! cuisine was equal to that OF good Paris res
taurant.
| GOOD REsTACRASrs AND HOTELS.
Throughout southern Mexico found splen-
did hotels. they we're often kept in old mon
asteries. and at Zacatecas slept in big room
| off clois.er where the door was four inches
| thick and the key weighed a pound One end
| of nv room opened out a garden. which
constituted the center OF the building, and
| every night could walk around this in the
moonlight anu see il soften the outlines of the
| great Moorish dome OF the monastery which
4
I good and the same the case at Guiana
huato, The Mexicans serve their meals one
, dish at a time IN table Il hote style, and they
! begin dinner with soap and end il with beans
| The waiter 1t the hotel brings bowl of soup
1 20 You and You laGle out as much as YOU want
After soup you have half dozen different
! kinds of meat and vegetables served separately
! and you close with dessert and coffee. Mexi-
| can frlJoles always form part of the meal
! These are pronounced freehoiies and thew are
i lev
Boston baked beans and every one eats them,
1 They are never eaten on the day they are
cooked and they are always served in great
| abundance. They close the meal as rice closes
| a dinner In Japan, and 1 suppose the idea is
| that the man who has not enough OF other
| things can nj up on beans.
QUEER MEAT WAGONS.
Only the better classes of Mexicans eat meat
| an one OF the great fields Of American invest
! ment is in the packing interests of Mexico.
Ham and beef bring high prices aud the meat
business Of the city is managed by monopoIies
Good beeves are worth from S25 to $50 head,
! and there Is more mutton eaten than beef A
i great deal of the beef comes from Guanahuato
] and the meat wagons Of this eity are mules
| Take one Of the greasiest dirtiest mule. you
j can md and fasten q framework OF hooks 20 o
| saddle on his back. Let this framework ex-
| tend about a foot above the mule and on the
hooks hang the halves and quarters of beeves
| so that the blood drips from them on the
ground and so that where the mules are small
| the meat almost touches the ground and you
| have the Mexican butcher cart of the noun
tains. The butcher or meat peddler wears a
great blanket about his shoulders. broad
trimmed hat on his head and his feet are bare.
| IL you buy a quarter Of beef he will carry it
into your house on his head. aud if you want q
slice he viii hack of piece for you and charge
you about the same FOR the neck as the loin.
4 EvrxYTHrSo GOES
The Mexicans sell every part Of the animal,
and In every market you will End little cook
shops in which shTsdS Of beet are fried and