[From The American Anthropologist for July, 1894.] 
DISTILLATION BY EARLY AMERICAN INDIANS. 
CAPTAIN JOHN G. BOURKE, U. S. A. 
lii the Anthropologist for January, 1893, there was published 
a brief description of a visit made to Lake Patzcuaro, in the state 
of Michoacan, western Mexico, in which I commented upon 
some very primitive methods of distillation in use among the 
Tarasco Indians of that region. 
In that article reference was made to the decidedly aboriginal 
type of the apparatus employed and to the fact that the natives 
of Mexico have for centuries been celebrated for their skill in 
making liquors from the maguey, nopal, mesquite, and maize. 
Most of these liquors are made by fermentation. Nevertheless, 
there seems to me to be much to support the idea that the 
American Indian—at least the Aztec—had some acquaintance 
with rude processes of distillation not taught him by the Euro- 
pean. 
The following quotations bear upon the drinks of the Indians 
as noted by the first discoverers. 
■ Columbus observed that the Indians of Veragua, on the north 
coast of South America, not only used corn as food, but made 
of it a drink resembling English beer, with which they mixed 
various spices. This was the same as the tizwin of the Apaches 
of Arizona, who are so extremely fond of it that they ignore or 
defy all ordinances made for its suppression. Tizwin formerly 
figured prominently in all the Apache ceremonial dances and 
preparations for the warpath ; so much so that twenty or twenty- 
five years ago, when officers learned that the Apaches were in- 
dulging in a “ tizwin drunk ” they knew that mischief was 
afoot. My own opinion, as expressed elsewhere, was that it was 
their sacred intoxicant. 
Tizwin differs somewhat from the sour drink made by the 
Cherokees from corn-meal gruel and regarded by them as very 
palatable and refreshing in sultry weather. 
Columbus describes not onty tizwin, but also mescal, the 
favorite alcoholic stimulant of the Mexican Indians of today. 298 
THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. 
[Vol. VII. 
It is now quite well understood that there are two classes 
of liquor obtained from the maguey, or American aloe. 
The sap, or “ miel,” when allowed to ferment becomes the 
beer-like “ pulque,” which is consumed in enormous quantities. 
The center stalk or heart of the plant, first baked and allowed 
to ferment and then distilled, furnishes mescal.” It was this 
latter which Columbus probably saw. It is expressly stated 
that the juice of the marrow of the trunk was hailed with water 
and spices. But we can let the life of Columbus supply the 
Avords: 
“ Se nourrissent de Maiz qui vient en epy comme du millet, et en font 
une liqueur semblable a la cervoise d’Angleterre, en y melant quelques 
epiceries qui luy donnent le goust du Rape. Ils en font une autre avec 
une sorte d’arbre plein de longues epines; ils prennent la mouelle du 
tronc, la pressent, et en expriment le sue qui ayant bouilly avec de I’eau et 
des epiceries, compose une boisson qu’ils estiment beaucoup.” (Life of 
Columbus, by his son Fernando, Paris, 1571, second part, p. 197.) 
Closely following Columbus came the Emperor Charles V, 
who spoke as follows of the Indians of New Spain (Mexico), 
within ten years after Cortez had made himself master of Tenoch- 
titlan: 
“The Indians of New Spain make use of a drink called pulque, which is 
distilled by the magueys, plants of great value for certain purposes, and 
when drunk in moderation its use may be tolerated, since they have al- 
ways been accustomed to it; but it has been noted that great harm and 
danger have been occasioned by their manner of doctoring it by the in- 
troduction of various ingredients noxious to spiritual and temporal health, 
since, under pretense of preserving it and keeping it from corruption, 
they mix with it certain roots, boiling water, and lime, which impart so 
much additional strength that it deprives them of their senses, inflames 
the principal members of the body, sickens, stupefies, and kills them 
with the greatest facility, and, what is still more to be deplored, being 
thus alienated, they commit idolatries, return to the ceremonies and 
sacrifices of paganism, engage in furious altercations, deprive themselves 
of life, and commit many carnal, scandalous, and incestuous vices, for 
the suppression of which the ecclesiastical authorities have been com- 
pelled to fulminate censures.”* 
* “ Usan los Indies de la Nueva Espana de una bebida, llamada pulque 
que destilan los magueyes, plantas de much beneficio para diferentes 
effectos, y aunque bebida con templanza, se podria tolerar, porque ya 
estan acostumbrados a ella, se han experimentado notables danos, y 
perjuicies de la forma con que la confeccionan, introduciendole algunos July 1894.] 
DISTILLATION BY AMERICAN INDIANS. 
299 
This edict will bear a great deal of scrutiny. While the terra 
“ pulque ” is used and the whole thing may be taken as an ordi- 
nance for the suppression of pulque debauches, yet the word 
“ destilan ” also appears, and may be translated “ distilled by, 
or from, the magueys.” 
But it is to another statement that attention should be espe- 
cially invited—the adulteration of this drink with lime-water 
and various noxious roots. The very same thing is done along 
the Rio Grande in Texas today. The mescal sold in the “ can- 
tinas ” of the little towns in southern Texas, as well as in north- 
ern Mexico, is diluted with lime-water and has added to it sev- 
eral kinds of roots and berries, the most important being the 
chilchipin, said to be the basis of the fiery Tabasco sauce. If we 
admit that within less than ten years after the conquest of 
Mexico the Spaniards had taught the aborigines the secrets of 
distillation, then it is only fair that we should also concede that 
the Spaniards had familiarized themselves with roots and berries 
previously unknown to them and taught the natives to add 
them to the new beverages. The use of tizwin, pulque, or their 
analogue, beer, in sacred ceremonies was not confined to the 
New World. 
Speaking of the labors of the Irish monks, Saints Gall and 
Columbanus, among the Teutons near the head of the Rhine and 
not far from Lake Zug, in Switzerland (about A. D. 590-610), 
Montalembert says: “Sometimes they broke the boilers in 
which the pagans prepared beer to offer as a sacrifice to 
Woden.” * 
ingredientes nodvos ala salad espiritual y temporal, pues con pretexto 
de conservarla, y que no se corrum pa, la mezcla con ciertas raizes, agua 
hirviendo, y cal; con que toma tanta fuerza, que les obliga a perder el 
sentido, abrasa los miembros principals del cuerpo, y los enferna, entor- 
pece, y mata con grandisi ma ficilidad, y lo que mas es, estando enagenados, 
cometen idolatrias, hazen ceremonias, y sacrificios de la Gentilidad, y 
furiosos traban pendencias, y se quitan la vida, cometiendo muchos vicios 
carnales, nefandos, e incestuosos, con que ban obligado a que los Prelados 
Ecclesiasticos fulminen censuras.” (Law XXXVII, Charles V, Toledo, 
August 24th, 1529.) To be found in “ Recopilacion de Leyes de los 
Reynos de las Indias,” Madrid, 1681. Julian de Paredes. (Copy now 
in Newberry Library, Chicago. 
*“ Monks of the West,” English edition, London, 1861, vol. 2, p. 430.