El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-05-10

=
I is called the masuey. and it may be
/ seen by the tens of thousands, running
! In rows back and forth upon the plan
! tations Of the high table lands. Near
/ Puebla is the plain Of Apam, which is
entirely given up to the production of
. pIlque. The plants there cover tens of
] thousands Of acres making forests OF
I Cactl The leaves Of the plants sprOut
from the ground around a green cone.
: which is a foot thick at the base and
which rises high above the leaves. end
ing in a point like q needle. This cone,
+ Is the stalk and it takes about 10 years
/ before it flowers out. at which time the
plant dies
It is just before the Towering that
the plant is ready for pulQue The cone
/ or 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 runs down. The sap runs so
fast that plant viii yield 10 to IS
pints every day and continue fits flow
for three or four months. yielding bar
rels and sometimes hOgsheads of IL
quor.
This sap, when fermented, forms
natural beer. As it flows into the
bowl it is as sweet as sugar and as
clear as pure alcohol After "a hours its
color turns TO that Of skim milk, and
u tastes not unlike buttermilk. Tt then
begins TO give forth an OdOr, and this
door grows stronger as the pulque
grows older.
I have tried some Of this beer. It has
about the same effect as strong Ger
man book 1t makes one feel comfort
able and IF YOU take a little too much
u viii go to your head. Tt acts upon
the liver and kidneys. and is an excel
lent tonic. If taken before retiring at
night. one need have no fear of in
rest is without dreams.
On the PuIque Plantations.
I have travelled for miles through
lneSe pullue Plantations and have seen
cirIy indian poems at work gathering
the liquor Each carries with him a
sack made Of untanned Digskin. and
he draws the juice from the plants into
TINS oy means Of gourd. He first
sucks the gourd fun OF sap and then
pcurs the sap into the bag. When the
nag IS fun il is emptied into caslz.
where the liquor is allowed to ferment-
It sometimes ferments in the bag and
the Fermentation is FASTENED by throw
ing IN little pulque which has be-
come rank and sour. It takes only "a
hours TO turn tie sap into beer. and the
beer is marketed the day fl is made II
Il gets very old IL spOils and grows flat
The pulque salOOnists are compelled by
law 10 sell none of the liquor which
has been brewed for more than q
hours.
There are about a thousand pulQue
saloons at the capital. You find them
on almost every block and YOU can tell
them by the flOrid-faced indians who
hang around them They have none OF
the characterization and glitter OF our
beer saloons. and the drinkers are al
most Invariably of the lower classes. /
PulQue does not seem to excite the
crinker. Tt is rather Quieting than 9TH
erwise, and it is said to have medicinal
value.
WherefrOm Come Orr Cocktails.
There is a tradition here that from
pulQue comes the origin of the Ameri-
can cocktail The beer was used by the I
TOltecs, who antedated the Aztecs, and [
according to whose legends il was first Z
named NOchitl a name which has been I
degraded to the word Cocktail The 1
original name came from a beautiful !
girl who first discovered the delights I
OF pulque- This was Miss NOchitl. She /
had tasted the fermented sap and was I,
50 pleased with it that she sucked out /
q gourd fuQ and carried it to the king
of that Dag. He drank deep and long.
and as the fluid ran down his throat /
and crawled M to to his brain. he \
threw his arms around the blushing
damsel and lifted her to a seat on his I
throne. saying.
Tell me- o maiden. the secret Of this
drink of pure honey"
ThereuPon Miss fXochitL or as we
might call her, Miss Cocktail re-
Piled
You are right. mighty king. 1t is a
honey, indeed. which the gods have
made for our drink"
Frank G. CARPENTER.