San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-02-15
DRINK FROM CACTUS.
Tizwin, the FaVorite of the
Apache Indians.
The Grand Annual Carouse of the Arb
roma Tribes at Which the Redmen
''FtlI Up" and Have Great
Time.

Inc giant cactus, or Sanudrah, Is
peculiar to Arizona. 1t is weird, I'M
Couth specimen of vegetation, and is,
as its name implies, giant-the most
OvergrOwn member of {. Numerous and
prolific family Contrary to the gen.
eral rule with unique productions in
both the animal and vegetable king
doms, there is no immediate danger Of
this curious plant becoming extinct,
for there are portions of Arizona where
its lofty fluted columns, standing in
open order, dot the landscape as far as
the eye can see. covering the desOlate
plains and foothills like an immense
army of sbirmisherS
To the native Indian, says the Kansas
City Journal, the Sahuarah pronounced
sab wah-rah) is a valuable and useful
plant, standing in much the same rela-
ton to him as the cOcoanut palm to the
South Sea islanders. 1t supplies him
shelter, food, drink, and many other
neceSsaries. 1t is almost anlmal-like
in its construction, having a frame
work or skeleton clothed with soft,
feshy matter which, in its turn, is pro-
tected by tough epidermis. This skin
being watertight, preserves moisture
in the interior, which would otherwise
quickly evaporate under the rays of
the torrid sun, leaving it to dry up and
die. So important is the service of this
skin to the life of the plant that it is
itself protected from abrasion by for
midable array of bristling thorns,
which guard the surface at every
point. 1t is thus that even in the midst
of the most barren and thirsty deserts,
where there is sometimes no rainfall
for months, the Sahuarah is able to
preserve for its own use sufficient wd-
ter to live upon.
The heart of the plant, which con.
sists of soft white pith, is surrounded
with a genuine skeleton, formed OF
long, slender strips of soft though
tough and stringy wood, standing in a
| circle and reaching from end to end of
the shaft, each strip parallel to the
others and all joined together at inter
walls by cross fibers. These make ex-
| cellent ready made fishpoles, and the
Indians also use them for making their
huts, or ''wickiups," and frequently
construct the entire building with
them. The fruit is about the size and
shape of a rather small hen egg, and is
attached without stem directly to the
blunt end of the shaft and the various
limbs. When ripe, the green hull,
which has by this time assumed a scar
let hue, splits open in four lobes, like
the calyx of tulip, disclosing to view
an upright, pulpy mass, with the con-
sistency of fig, and, like the latter,
filled with innumerable black seeds.
This is delicious when eaten fresh. and
also when dried and prepared by the
squaws as a preserve resembling fig
paste.
But the fruit is chiefly valued by the
dusky natives for its use in the manu-
facture of the Indian intoxicant, tiz-
win, which is made by fermentation,
and by means of which every year at
the ripening each tribe INDUCES in a
grand annual carouse. 1t is during
these "tizwin drunks," as they are
called by the whites, that most of the
raids and outrages have occurred in
past years. AS soon as the fruit ripens
the squaws, taking the children with
them, sally forth to the harvest, tramp
ing miles over mountain and plain, and
gather it into large, peculiar-shaped
baskets, which they carry balanced on
their heads.
When, after numerous journeys back
and forth, a sufficient quantity has
been gathered, the juice is pressed out
by treading the fruit in wide, shallow
baskets, and collected into large earth
en- jars (ollas), where a mOdicum OF
water is added. These are then stored
in dark room of even temperature,
where a small fire is kept constantly
burning until white froth appearing
on the surface indicates that fermenta-
ton has commenced. 1t has then at
tanned the requisite intoxicating
power, and the welcome news is
passed from mouth to mouth and from
village to village, while everyone
hastens to the "tizwin camp" and
proceeds without further ceremony to
intoxicate himself as evpeditiously as
can be accomplished. Meanwhile the
squaws and children, who are never
allowed to join in the revelry, manage
to get their fun out of the affair as
spectators They climb on top of the
low roofs of the ''wickiups," and
there, perched securely out of harms
way, they view with shouts of laughter
or bowls of woe, as the case may be,
the drunken orgies of their lords.
In truth, it is an interesting sight,
but should be viewed by white men
only under the protection of strong
military escort, for the Apache is but
devil at best, and when filed with fire
water the father of evil himself is
a polite and benevolent gentleman in
comparison. Staggering about with
untitled knives or rushing madlY to