Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-09-06

strongest kind of bagging and ropes, which
are equal in strength to linen.
The title of our most popular drink comes
from Mexico. The Aztec word for puluue
is pronounced much like octail, and Gen.
eral Scott's troops called the liquor cocktail
and carried the word back to the United
States. It is said that the liquor was dis
covered by a Tolteo noble and that be sent
it to the king by the hand of his daughter,
Miss Cocktail (XochitD. The king drank
the liquor and then looked at the maiden.
The first tickled his palate, the second en-
amored his heart. 1t was a case of love at
first sight in both instances, and he married
the girl and started a pulque plantation
From that day to this the Mexicans have
kept themselves saturated with pulque, and
Miss Cocktail is one of the Venuses of
Mexican tradition.
WILL KILL YOU QUICKLY.
Mexican brandies are very strong. There
is one called aguardiente, which is made
from sugar-cane, and which is as strong as
it is cheap. L had q sore throat few DAYS
ago and was advised to bathe my neck
in this brandy. 1 found that it made the
skin smart, and concluded to see how much
alcohol there was in it 1 poured a wine-
glassful of it onto my marble wash-stand
and touched O match to it. 1t exploded
like coal oil and blazed away for ten min
utes. Two million dollars worth of this
brandy is made in Mexico every year. 1t
produces drunkenness very quickly.
Mexicans have some good wines, but they
are very dear, and an ordinary claret costs
81 bottle. The chief drinks at meals are
coffee and chocolate, aud the Mexican choc-
olate is delicious. 1t is favored with cinna-
mon and is served quite sweet. There is
. NAor 80 h., i
all the Mexican markets you viii find choc-
olate mixers, little wooden stick with q
knob on the end, much like that of baby s
rattle. You stand these on end in the choc-
olate and make the knob 60 around by
whirling the stem between the palms OF
your hands.
WHAT THE MEXICANS EAT.
Before came to Mexico was told that
1 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 commits
Grating eyes. 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 Americans
who had gone down there. ventured into
the land with fear and trembling, and at
first patronized the American hotels.
found them dear and nasty. The cooking
was abominable and the service was worse
then tried Mexican hotel, and found it
excellent. Some of the best meals have
ever had have eaten in Mexico, and shall
not soon forget dinner at Toluca, where a
pretty Mexican boy gave me dinner of ten
courses, and where the cuisine was equal to
that of good Paris restaurant Through
out Southern Mexico l found splendid
hotels They were often kept in old monas-
teries, and at Zacatecas l slept in big
room off cloister, where the door was four
inches thick and the key weighed pound
One end of my room opened out on gar
den, which constituted the center of the
building. and every night 1 could walk
around this in the moonlight, and see it
soften the outlines of the great Moorish
dome of the monastery which looked down
upon me. The cooking here was good, and
the same was the case at Guanahuato.
HOW MEALS ARE SERVED.
The Mexicans serve their meals one dish