ars, and some Mexicans in Chihuahua who have also adopted it. It
must not be confounded with the well-known Mexican drink, pulque,
to which it is superior in flavour. It is very nourishing, and the
Indians as well as the Mexicans are in the habit of abstaining from
food before partaking of the beer, which they assert would otherwise
not agree with them. But, food or no food, at all feasts and dances
they drink such incredibly large quantities that they are invariably
completely overpowered by it, though when taken in moderation tesvino
is only mildly stimulating.

Another national beverage, maguey wine, is made from a favourite
sweet food of many Indian tribes, which a white man's stomach can
hardly digest, namely, the baked stalk of the maguey plant, or that
of other agaves. To prepare the liquor, the leaves are cut from the
bulb-shaped stalk or heart, which looks like a hard white head of
cabbage. These hearts contain a great deal of saccharine matter,
and are baked between hot stones in earth mounds, being protected
against contact with earth by layers of grass.

When the Tarahumares want to make maguey wine they leave the baked
stalks in water in natural hollows or pockets in rocks, without any
covering. The root of a certain plant called frijolillo is added as
a ferment, and after two days the juice is wrung out with a blanket.

An intoxicating drink is also made from another agave, called tshawi,
which, though common on the higher slopes of the barrancas, has only
recently become known to science. According to tradition it is the
first plant God created, and the liquor made from it is considered
by the pagan Tarahumares as indispensable to certain ceremonies. The
Tepehuanes, too, put much importance on this brew, and say that the
plant is so sensitive that if one passes a jar in which it is being
boiled the liquid will not ferment.

Finally it should be mentioned that an intoxicating, though extremely
distasteful drink is made from the stalk of the maize plant (_cana_),
by pounding this material into a pulp, then allowing it to soak in
water for three days, when it is fermented, whereupon the liquor is
prepared in the same way as the maguey wine.

Chapter XIV

Politeness, and the Demands of Etiquette--The Daily Life of the
Tarahumare--The Woman's Position is High--Standard of Beauty--Women
Do the Courting--Love's Young Dream--Marriage Ceremonies, Primitive
and Civilised--Childbirth--