Mexico to-day, a country with a great future; and a glance at the prehistoric remains and antiquities of the Montezumas . e filled; then we returned to the tinacal, orplace where the pulque is made—a large fine barn, the earthenfloor clean as the deck of a man-of-war. It was filled withsquare wooden frames, on which were stretched cowhides, shapedlike vats, the hairy sides upwards. The liquid seemed to curdlein process of fermentation, and smelt very badly. The cowhideswith their frames are called tinas. The rotten curds are fedthree times a day—in other words, after each milking—with aguamiel
Mexico to-day, a country with a great future; and a glance at the prehistoric remains and antiquities of the Montezumas . e filled; then we returned to the tinacal, orplace where the pulque is made—a large fine barn, the earthenfloor clean as the deck of a man-of-war. It was filled withsquare wooden frames, on which were stretched cowhides, shapedlike vats, the hairy sides upwards. The liquid seemed to curdlein process of fermentation, and smelt very badly. The cowhideswith their frames are called tinas. The rotten curds are fedthree times a day—in other words, after each milking—with aguamiel, this ferments for about three hours, and from the tina isdrawn into barrels for the pulquerias, or gaudily adorned public-houses where pulque is sold, and which are to be found at thecorners of almost every street in Mexico. In many cases it iscarried about the country in sheepskins, on the stalwartshoulders of peripatetic pedlars. We entered the tinacal in a sort of procession, each one onentering exclaiming Alabo a Dios; I praise God, as hereverently removed his hat. The donkeys remained on the PLATE PULQUE TLACHIQUERO. [page 82. CHAP. XI. DUTY ON PULQUE. 83 tliresliold, and the agua-miel-lacleu sheepskins were carefully-brought in on the backs of Indians one by one. When theorifice of the sheepskin was opened and the liquor ready forpouring out, the tlaqualero, or boss pulque maker, of thetinacaJ took the meneador, a long stake or switch from thecorner, and, making the sign of the cross in the rotten curds,reverently exclaimed, Ave JMaria purisima, to which theIndian devoutly responded, Alabado sea Dies y la SantisimaTrinidad. Then the Indian proceeded to pour the contents ofhis sheepskin into a great vessel held over the tina by a manwho cries, Uno ! dos ! tres ! etc., as he turns the contents intothe tina. On a large hacienda like this, the rocky dry lands wliich areunfit for cultivation and the hedgerows are appropriated to themaguey plant; on a thousand ac
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectmexicod, bookyear1883
