other ways, and salt was prepared by filtering water through certain kinds of earth and evaporating the liquor. The constant hostilities of the Tlaxcalans with the Mexicans had resulted in the almost total destruction of the salt trade as far as the former were concerned; in fact the inhabitants had practically lost the habit of taking it, and some years elapsed after the conquest before it became common in that district. It is said that neither salt nor pepper was used by the Toluca and Matlatzinca. As regards beverages, two were of great importance; the first of these was prepared from the cacao, imported from the hotter regions near the coast, and was called chocolatl (whence our own word chocolate). The nut was pounded and boiled in water with a little maize-flour; the oil was skimmed off, and the mixture strained and poured into another vessel so as to produce a froth; sometimes honey and vanilla were added, and it was generally taken after food with tortoise-shell spoons. The other national drink was octli (often inaccurately termed pulque, an Argentine word for the same beverage), prepared from the fermented sap of the maguey. The heart of the plant was cut out (the day 1. tecpatl being considered an appropriate date) and when the sap had collected it was drawn off in long gourds by means of suction applied through a small hole at the end, and stored in skins or calabashes. Fermentation was assisted by the addition of a certain root. The legal restrictions placed upon the use of this beverage in Mexico have already been mentioned. Other fermented drinks were prepared from grain, and a certain mushroom was employed as an intoxicant, especially at a feast organized by the guild of merchants. The effects of the latter are described by Sahagun: “Some sang, others wept because they were intoxicated; others remained silent, seated in the hall as if absorbed in thought. Some thought that they were dying, and sobbed in their hallucination, while others imagined that they were being devoured by some savage beast. Others again thought that they were capturing an enemy in fight, another that he was rich, another that he possessed a large number of slaves. Some thought that they were taken in adultery, and that their heads were being crushed for this crime, others that they had been convicted of theft and were being executed, and a thousand other illusions. When the intoxication had passed, they entertained one another by relating their hallucinations.” The discovery of the properties of this fungus seems to have been made originally by the Chichimec, since its use was common among this people. A kind of chewing-gum was prepared from resin or bitumen, though its use, at any rate in public, was confined by custom to unmarried girls. Allusion has already been made to the practice of smoking; reeds were collected and after being carefully smoothed were filled with pulverized charcoal mixed with tobacco and other fragrant herbs.