Page:Our Sister Republic - Mexico.djvu/253

Rh the walls in a state of stupid intoxication, with an expression of utter vacuity or idiocy upon their faces.

The liquor is exposed to the sun in the skins of pigs, sheep, and goats, denuded of the hair and bristles, which appear to have been taken off whole. After much diligent inquiry, Mr. Fitch elicited the statement, that the



skins are taken off by allowing the pigs to fast twenty four hours, then tying them by their tails to posts, and coaxing them out of their coverings by holding ears of corn just in front of their noses.

The statement went down in his book, at once, and was added, unhesitatingly, to the, already, large stock of useless knowledge he had accumulated on the trip. The fact is that the animal is beaten with a club until all the bones are smashed, and the flesh reduced to a