MESCAL, a fiery liquor produced in Mexico from several species of Agave (q.v.). The most famous liquor, however, is made from the *hearts)" of the species Agave teguileana. The city of Tequila, in the state of Jalisco, is the centre of this particular industry. The Tequila Agave resembles in the appearance of its stiff lance-like leaves the sisal hemp plant, though it sends out its leaves from a great bulb-like cellu lar mass which forms the heart of the plant. This heart, when denuded from its leaves and detached from the root, is cleft in two, and a dozen of these pieces make a fair load for a mule, for they must be transported from the fields where grown to the city, sometimes a journey of several miles. These hearts are roasted in pits, within the distillery enclosures, dug four or five feet deep and considerably wider. A hot fire is built of mesquite wood, and large stones distributed through the fuel. The are then heaped over the burning mass until a huge mound is formed, which is covered first with grass and then with earth, and the mass left several days to cook. When the mound is opened the raw product is found to have changed to a dull brown in color, and the juices to have been converted into sugar.
White hot and steaming, the mass is taken to another pit, stone-paved, on the bottom of which revolves a heavy stone crusher, really an arrester operated by mule power. Here it is ground into pulp and the semi-liquid mass carried in deep trays on the heads of Indians to the vats where it remains to ferment. Then it goes to the rude stills, and is run off as mes cal. The commercial mescal is a colorless liquor sometimes with a slight amber tint, though much of it is like alcohol. Some of the higher grades are given fancy names which serve as trademarks. It is far too strong a liquor to be drunk with impunity, though its fiery quality seems to suit the Mexican taste for hot things. Zotol is another liquor, made in the same way from the bulb-like heart of a species of Dasylirion, which is said to be as strong as 95 per cent alcohol. These liquors should not be confounded with aguardiente, which is made from sugarcane. The Mexican name means burning water.