entailed. In accordance with the usual policy, the sale of an article of such extensive consumption had been monopolized, the government granting to one individual the exclusive right to sell pulque to the thirty-six establishments allowed in the city of Mexico for that purpose. The amount paid for it almost doubled between 1669 and 1763,[1] but this by no means indicates the real extent of the consumption, for during the eighteenth century the fraudulent manufacture of pulque and other beverages, chiefly adulterated with unwholesome roots, assumed great dimensions. A number of cédulas and orders were issued both in Spain and Mexico to suppress the abuses,[2] but with so little result that, in 1763, the contract was not renewed, the government taking charge of its sale, and ten years later, the net profits derived therefrom exceeded 930,000 pesos annually.[3]
Of Aztec origin, like the pulque, is the sugar made of the sap of the maguey by condensation[4] but its manufacture decreased after the introduction of the sugar-cane. In the second half of the eighteenth century the juice was also more freely employed in the distillation of a brandy called mescal.[5] This branch, however, was little developed, owing to the efforts of the Spanish government to protect the industry of the mother country. Medicinal properties have also been attributed to the plant,[6] but it does not appear to have come into general use for this purpose. In their
- ↑ In 1669 it was $66,000 against $128,500 in 1763. Fonseca and Urretía, Hist. Real. Hoa., iii. 344,422. Mancera, in Insrucc. Vireyes, 298, indicates that the amount in 1671 and 1672 was $92,850 annually.
- ↑ In 1755 a special justice was appointed for that purpose, Órdenes de la Coróna, MS., i. 50-9, and in 1760 it was even under consideration to place the matter in charge of the acordada. Reales Cédulas, MS., i. 76-7. See also Órdenes de la Corona, MS., i. 64-5, 67-8; Revilla Gigedo, Real Cédula of 1753, 1-32, 1-39.
- ↑ Tables with details are given in Fonseca and Urrutia, Hist. Real Hac, iii. 423—4; they differ essentially from those given by Payno. Memoria sobre el Maguey, 94-7.
- ↑ Sacan de este licor unos panes pequenos deazúcar,' though not as white nor sweet as that of sugar-cane. Motolinia, Hist. Ind., 244.
- ↑ In 1792 the duties derived from mezcal amounted to over $24,000. Queipo, 109-10.
- ↑ See Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 422; Payno, Memoria sobre el Maguey, 40-7.
