the eye can reach, with farm-houses scattered here and there,
that strikingly remind the traveler of his northern home at this season
of the year.

THE MAGUEY.--PULQUE.

The fences here are chiefly formed by rows of the _maguey_ or _century
plant_, growing at the side of a ditch. Here it reaches its greatest
perfection, and adds materially to the fine appearance of the fields,
and is seen every where upon the table-land. It grows wild upon the
mountains, and springs up in uncultivated places, as a weed. It is
cultivated, as a domestic plant, in little patches, and is also planted
in fields of leagues in extent. It grows luxuriantly in the richest
soils, and shows itself in those desert plains, where nothing else,
except a few spears of stinted grass and chaparral can exist.

The uses to which the maguey is applied are more numerous than the
methods of its cultivation. When its immense leaf is pounded into a
pulp, it forms a substitute for both cloth and paper. The fibre of the
leaf, when beaten and spun, forms a beautiful thread, resembling silk
in its glossy texture, but which, when woven into a fabric, more
resembles linen than silk. This thread is now, and ever has been, the
sewing thread of the country. The leaf of the maguey, when crudely
dressed and spun into a coarse thread, is woven into sail-cloth and
sacking; and from it is made the bagging in common use. The ropes made
from it are of that kind called Manilla hemp. It is the best material
in use for wrapping paper. When cut into coarse straws, it forms the
brooms and whitewash-brushes of the country; and, as a substitute for
bristles, it is made into scrub-brushes; and, finally, it supplies the
place of hair-combs among the common people.

The great value of the maguey plant arises from the amount of
intoxicating liquid which it produces, which is the chief source of
intoxication among the common people of the table-land. There are two
species of this plant cultivated. One of them flourishes in the desert
portions of the country, from which an abominable liquor is distilled,
called _mescal_, or _mejical_. The other is the flowering maguey, or
century plant, of which so many fabulous stories are told in the United
States. This is one of the wonders of the vegetable world. Until the
plant has reached its tenth year, or thereabouts, there is no trace of
a flower. In its fifteenth year, or thereabout, there are certain
appearances which indicate that the ce