Page:Mexico, picturesque, political, progressive.djvu/111

Rh answer to inquiry is a shrug and a "Quien sabe?" has kept us from finding definitely the facts regarding pulque-making up to the present time. The plant, after from six to eight years' growth, develops in the centre a large circular cone, which, if allowed to increase, would become a thick stalk, bearing the blossom atop. The cone being removed at this early stage, leaves a deep, bowl-like hollow, into which the juice pours at the rate of four to six quarts daily for two or three months. The slightly acrid fluid is drawn off by means of rude siphons, and left from ten to fourteen days in enormous vats, covered inside with hides, the hairy side out, for some chemical reason. A slight froth rises during the process of fermentation, which is skimmed off; and the pulque is drawn into casks or pig-skins ready for transportation. What attraction to taste, sight, or smell this thin, sticky, sour, pale beverage can have, is one of the mysteries a stranger can never hope to elucidate. Still, as nearly every luxury in every land is an acquired taste, from the decayed fish and birdsnest of the Chinese, to the Roquefort cheese and olive of Western civilization, we ought not to quarrel with this