A broad-hatted tlachiquero tends his mule beside towering maguey agave plants, the wooden barrel on the animal's back waiting to be filled with pulque — the milky, fermented sap that sustained generations of central Mexican workers and was already ancient when the Spanish arrived. This richly colored linen card, postmarked August 4, 1939 in Mexico City and routed through the Misión post office toward Newark, New York, carries a chatty note from a traveler named Rose to a couple named the Michelsens: "There are many strange and interesting things to see in this country. From the cactus shown in this picture is made a liquor, pulque, which the natives drink. I haven't tried it yet, but shall do so. If it's good I may bring some home." The card bears a Mexican 4-centavo stamp from the 1934–1940 definitive series depicting the Palace of Fine Arts.