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francs, or five piastres. Still, as with the Vine, which may bear a
greater or less quantity of grapes, the produce is apt to vary, and cannot
be precisely calculated. Instances have, however, been known, of
a parent bequeathing a plantation of Maguay worth from seventy to
eighty thousand piastres.
“The cultivation of the ag a v e is attended with many real advantages
above that of Maize, Wheat, or Potatoes, as this sturdy, harsh, and fleshy
leaved plant is uninjured by the occasional drought, frost, and excessive
cold, which prevail in winter on the lofty Cordilleras of Mexico. It dies
after having flowered, or when the central bunch of leaves is cut away,
and then a number of suckers spring from the parent root, which increase
the plant with extraordinary rapidity. One acre of ground will
contain from twelve to thirteen hundred plants of Maguay, of which
it may be calculated that one in every thirteen or fourteen is always
affording. the honey. Thus the proprietor who sets from thirty to forty
thousand Maguays is sure of leaving his family rich; though a man
must possess patience and resolution to devote himself to cultivating
what only becomes productive after an interval of fifteen years. In good
soil, the ag a v e blossoms at the end of five years; while in poor ground
nothing can be expected under eighteen years; and any artificial means
by which the flowering state is unnaturally accelerated, only destroy
the plant prematurely, or materially lessen the amount of sap.
“The honey, or juice, is of an agreeably bitter-sweet flavour, and ferments
readily from the sugar and mucilage with which it abounds, this
process being hastened by the addition of some old and acid pulque.
This vinous liquor resembles cider, but diffuses a disgusting smell of
decayed meat, which Europeans have some difficulty in overcoming.
Those, however, who have accustomed themselves to the beverage,
consider it as strengthening, stomachic, and particularly nutritive,
recommending it, peculiarly, to persons of a very meagre habit; and
I have seen many whites, who, totally discontinuing water, beer, and
wine, drink only the Pulque, like so many Mexicans. The cause of the
fetid smell of this liquor is variously attributed to the mode of preparation,
the manure used for the soil, and the different materials in which
the fermentation is carried on; and I only regret, that I was unable, for
want of proper apparatus, to ascertain this curious point in vegetable
chemistry. By distillation, a most intoxicating spirit is obtained from
Pulque, which is called Mexical, or Aguardiente (Fire-water) of Maguay.
The plant which is preferred for this purpose, appeared to me smaller,
and its foliage more glaucous than the common kind; but not having
seen it in blossom, I cannot pronounce it to be specifically distinct.
“But not only is the ag a v e the Mexican Vine, but it holds the place
of Asiatic Hemp and the Egyptian Paper-Reed, (cy p e r u s Papyrus). The
antient manuscripts of this country consisted of hieroglyphics, often
inscribed on a paper made of numerous layers of the ag a v e leaf, macerated
in water, and glued together in the same manner as the pith of
papyrus and the bark of the Paper Mulberry (br o u s s o n e T i a) of the Pacific
isles. I brought away many antient specimens of this fabric, some
as thick as pasteboard, others as thin as fine India paper, which are
the more interesting, as all the Mexican records hitherto discovered
and still preserved at Rome and in Spain, are inscribed on the skins
of the Mexican Deer. No thread is so much prized by physicians in
Europe