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206 to call it forth; and to this the laborious habits of the agricultural population, in the Central Provinces of Mexico, are probably due.

On the evening of our arrival at Nŏpălūcă, a courier came in from the Capital with letters, which informed us that disturbances had taken place at La Puebla, the Capital of the Province, where it had been our intention to sleep on the following night, which, although not serious, induced the Supreme Government to wish that the Commission should take another route, which branching off to the North, across the Llānŏs de Āpăn, (a district remarkable for its fertility,) enters the valley of Mexico by Otūmbă and San Crĭstōvăl, leaving Lă Pūēblă far to the South and West. With this wish we of course complied, and two dragoons of the escort were dispatched, in order to prepare quarters for us at any Hacienda, in the direction of Otūmbă, where they might be able and willing to afford us hospitality for the night. We ourselves did not set out till ten o'clock, when we took the road to Hŭămāntlă, (a little town four leagues from Nŏpălūcă,) which led us through a succession of large fields of corn, barley, and maize, interspersed with plantations of the Aloe, (Agare Americana,) from which the wine of the natives, Pulque, is extracted. Having already given a detailed account of the process by which this liquor is prepared, (Book I. Section III.) it would be superfluous to repeat it here; I shall, therefore, merely state that Pulque is