t above the sea.
The municipal buildings and state capitol, all modern, are thought to be
the finest in the republic. They face upon a delightful plaza, the
almost universal arrangement in these cities. Beyond the valley of
Toluca, which is larger than that of Mexico, are others as broad and as
fertile, all of which are watered by the Rio Lerma. The trip hither from
the national capital leads us through some of the grandest scenery in
the country, as well as taking us over some of the most abrupt ascents
in Mexico. The districts through which the road passes nearest to the
city are mostly given up to the cultivation of the pulque-producing
maguey. These plantations are of great extent, being arranged with
mathematical precision, the plants placed ten feet apart in each
direction, in fields of twenty or thirty acres. The very sight of them
sets one to moralizing. Like the beautiful but treacherous poppy fields
which dazzle one in India, they are only too thrifty, too fruitful, too
ready to yield up their heart's blood for the pleasure, delusion, and
ruin of the people. We are all familiar with the broad, long,
bayonet-like leaf of this plant, which is to be seen in most of our
conservatories, known to us by the name of the century plant, and to
botanists as the _Agave Americana_. It rarely blooms except in tropical
climates. Indeed, it is best known with us at the north as the century
plant, a popular fallacy having become attached to it, that it blooms
but once in a hundred years. Hence the name which it bears in New
England. When the juice is first extracted it is sweet like new cider,
and is as harmless; it is believed to possess special curative
properties for some chronic ills that flesh is heir to, but fermentation
sets in soon after it is separated from the plant, and the alcoholic
principle is promptly developed. We were told at the city of Mexico that
the government treasury realizes a thousand dollars each day as a tax
upon the pulque which is brought into the capital from various parts of
the country, and that the railway companies receive an equal sum for the
freight.

There are two kinds of maguey: the cultivated plant from which comes
pulque, and one which grows wild in the desert parts of the country.
From the latter is distilled a coarse liquor which is highly
intoxicating, called mescal. This is a digression. Let us speak of our
journey to Toluca. If this very interesting city did not possess any
specia