Norwich bulletin., 1916-04-19
THE WAR PRIMER

PuIque and MeseaI - Although Francisco Villa himself is said to be a total abstainer from intoxicating liquors, many of the Mexican border outrases perpetrated by his men have followed a too-free indulgence in the Mexican national drinks, pulque and mescal.
 The National Geographic Society of Washington, in a primer issued today on these two beverages peculiar to the Southern republic says:
 The colonists who settled the east coast of the United States have been charged with introducing the Ameri- can Indian to 'fire-water' in exchange for the tobacco habit, but no similar accusation can rest against the Flu ropeans who conquered the pulque- drinking Aztecs of Mexico. The in toxicetin properties of this unique beverage were known long before Cor tez marched his army across the causeways which joined the ancient Venice-like capital of the Montezu- mas to the lakes shores.
 Both pulque and mescal are pro- ducts of the agaye or century plant which was of the same utilitarian inn portance to the aborigines as the date palm to the Arab, the bamboo to the Burmese, and the banana to the Cen tral American. In addition to the two important beverages, this plant sup plies from its roots a starchy food; from its fibrous leaves cloth is woven and rope is made: from it's pulp the Aztecs obtained a sort of papyrus paper on which have been preserved some of their most valued writings: | it's huge leaves when dried furnished ! a roofing for abode huts: its stems ! still supply fuel, and rows of the | sharp-spined plants afforded an i'm 1 penetrable defense against the attacks | of wild animals as well as an effective ! n rrni in st
 "Mescal and Pulque are not, as many believe, different names for the same drink. Mescal is distilled from ! the leaves and roasted roots of the | plant, and is a sort of brandy, con | taining from third to half as much ' alcohol as the average American | whiskey. Pulque, on the other hand. | is the fermented sap of the plant, and | is obtained from the heart of the | maSuey, or agave, when it has at | tained a growth of six or eight years. | The pulque harvester taps this heart which might be compared with the | center of the date palm, and with the | aid of a long reed or gourd he sucks l the sap from it, using his tongue as 1 a stopper for the reed When the
 reed is full he blows it into a pigskin | cOntainer strapped to his back. In
 the course of four or five months the maguey will yield ten gallons of sap. | It then withers and dies. When fresh | pulque is a sweet innocuous liquid
 and is called agua miel Choney water)
 It soon begins to ferment, however. a process often hastened by the addi- tion of madre, or old, pulque.
 '. Neither mescal nor pulque is ex- pensive. One can get a drink of the latter for a cent, while a 14-gallor cask of the famous tequila brand oi mescal may be had for 19 pesos S9.50)
 The Mexicans surround the dis covery of these maguey beverages
 with a lengend of royal romance. Long
 before the Montezumas held sway over Tenochtitlan, so the story goes, one ot
 the early emperors took as his bride
 the beautiful daughter of a vanquish-
 ed foe. The princess brought with he1
 to TenOchtitlan the secret of a re,
 markable drink of which her lord anC
 master grew inordinately fond. Afte
 imbidins freely of it he would becom gratifying docile and torpid, leavir; the princess free to her own devices r Other Aztec wives induced the prin
 cess to share with them the secret O
 this strange soporific and thus tn
 whole race came under the power O , pulque.
 ''The Aztec cannot be charged witt
 the invention of the nauseous mil