Sir E. Schomburgk on the Natives of Guiana, 379 



till they have finished. It frequently happens, however, that 

 a fiivourite dish is put aside by them for a period of undis- 

 turbed enjoyment. 



The hog, cow, and fish of large size, are forbidden food. 

 The Caribs are very particular in this respect. The delicious 

 fish, the Sudis gigas, or pirarucu, one of the largest which 

 swims in fresh water, and which abounds in the Rupununi, 

 and different species of Siluridae, are considered unclean by 

 the Macusis and Caribs. In their native woods and savan^ 

 nahs, where they are not degenerated through intercourse 

 with Europeans, the meat of the domestic hog is held in hor- 

 ror. I could never induce Irai, a Carib chieftain, who was 

 otherwise a sensible man, to taste the smallest slice of ham. 

 The herds of wild cattle on the savannahs of Rupununi and 

 Rio Branco, are unmolested by the Macusi Indians who in- 

 habit these regions, as the flesh is considered unclean. They, 

 however, eat their native hogs, the peccari and cairuni. The 

 cassada affords their chief sustenance. The root of this 

 plant (Janipha manihot), which, in its natural state, is so 

 poisonous, is, by a simple process, converted into nutritious 

 food. After it has been washed and scraped, it is grated and 

 pressed into an elastic tube, which is called a matappi, and 

 has been made of the plaited stems of a calathea. The tube 

 being filled, its upper end is tied to one of the beams in the 

 hut, so that its opposite end, which possesses a loop hole, 

 remains a few feet from the ground ; a long pole is pushed 

 through the loop-hole, the shorter end of which is fixed, while 

 the longer being pressed down, serves as a powerful lever, 

 and the elasticity of the tube presses the grated cassada for- 

 cibly together, and the poisonous juice escapes through the in- 

 terstices of the plaits. The mass, deprived of its juice, is then 

 gradually dried, and, if required, some of the flour, after it 

 has been sifted, is put upon a pan over a fire, and in a few 

 minutes a cake, resembling an oatmeal cake in appearance, 

 is ready. Violent as the poisonous juice of the cassada root 

 proves to be, its narcotic principle is so volatile, that it 

 escapes by being exposed to fire ; the Indian forms, there- 

 fore, a sauce of the juice, which resembles ketchup or soy. 



