The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-11

thousands CT acres, making forests of
cacti. The leaves of the plants snrout
from the ground around a green cone.
which issa foot thick at the basa and
which rises high above the leaves endin~
in point like needle. This cone Is
the stalk and il takes about 10 vears
before it flowers out, at which time the
plant dies.
1t is just before the towering that tha
plant is ready for pulque. The cone of.
flower stalk is then cut out of the base
of the plant leaving there a great hole
or bowl into which the sap from the
leaves run down. The sap runs SO fast
that plant will yield 10 or 10 pints every
day and continue its flow for three or
four months yielding barrels and some
times hogshead of liquor.
This sap, when fermented, forms a nat
sural beer. As it flows into the bowl it Is
as sweet as sugar and as clear as pure
alcohol After u hours its color turns To
that of skim milk, and it tastes not unlike
buttermilk. II then begins to give forth
an odor, and this odor grows stronger AS
the pulque grows older Indeed, / be-
lieve that one could shut his eyes and
find the pulaue saloons by his nose.
have tried some of this beer II has
about the same effect as strong German
book. 1t makes one feel comfortable, ana
if YOU take little too much It viii go
TO your head. II acts upon the liver and
kidneys, and Is an excellent tonic If taken
before retiring al night one need have
no fear of insomnia; He soon goes to
sleep and his rest is without dreams
On the Pulque Plantations
have travelled for miles through
these pulque plantations and have seen
dirty Indians poems at work gatherin.
the liquor. Each carries with him !
sack made of untanned pigskin and
ne draws the juice from the plants in
to this by means of a gourd lie first
sneks the gourd fun Of sap and then
F9urs the sap into the bag. When the
bag is full it is emptied into a casjs
where the liquor is allowed to fermenf.
II sometimes ferments IN the bag ana
the fermentation is hastened bv throw
Ing in little old pulque which has
become rank and sour 1t takes only
- hours to turn the sap into beer, and
the beer is marketed the dav il is made
II 1T gets very old it spoils and grows
flat. The pulque saloonists are com
PEELED by law to sell none of the LIQUOR
which has been brewed for more than
q hours.
There are about 100 pulque saloons
al the capital You find them on al
most every block and you can tell then,
by the florid faced Indians who hans
around them. They have none Of the
ofnamentation and glitter of our heer
saloons and the drinkers are almost in
vai lably of the lower classes. Puloue
doeS not seem to excite the drtnker
IT is rather quieting than otherwise
and 1t is said to have medicinal value.
There is tradition here that from
nuique comes the origin of the Amer
lean cocktail. The beer was used bv
the Toltees. who antedated the Aztecs.
and according to whose legends it was
iTst named Nochitl. a name which has
been degrade to the word Cocktail
ine original name came from a beau-
tllui girl who first discovered the de-
lights of pulque. This was Miss Xochitl.
she had tasted the fermented san and
was so pleased with 1t that she sucked
cut a guord fun and carried it to the
kins of that day. lie drank deep and
long and as the fluid ran down his
throat and crawled up to his brain. he
threV' his arms around the blnshinu
danlsel and lifted her to a seat on his
throne, saying:
Tel me, o Maiden. the secret of
thlS drink of pure honey"
Thereupon Miss Xochitl. or. as We
ialsht call her, Miss Cocktail" renlied.
You are right, mighty King! II IS
honey, indeed, which the gods have
made for our drink"