down from the crown it contained sago. The testing was 
done by driving an axe into the trunk at various intervals. 
When the axe was withdrawn, with starch sticking to its 
blade, it signified contact with starchy pith. 
According to the Warao, Manicaria, unlike Mauritia, has 
no annual flowering and fruiting period and contains starch 
the year round. The specimen used for the experiment con- 
tained sago in the upper 3 m. of the 6 m. long and 30 cm. 
thick trunk. To obtain for me a unit measurement of the 
volume of sago in one palm, the Indian removed with his 
axe the bark of a 1 m. long section below the crown, exposing 
in the opening a beige to light brown fibrous interior, not 
pithy like Mauritia but somewhat ligneous. 
The Indian then stood on top of the trunk and shredded 
the pith with an adze or hoe (nahuru).’ The hoe is a 
composite tool which the Warao claim to have adopted, in 
remote times, from cannibalistic neighbors, called Siawani. 
It consists of three basic parts — blade, handle, and binding. 
The blade (nahuru ateho) is carved from the bark of a 
mature Mauritia and is 3 cm. thick. Its length varies between 
40 and 60 cm. according to the height of its user. The work- 
ing end (ahi) of the wooden blade is about 15 cm. wide and 
grooved to form a double cutting edge. Laterally, the blade 
is carved concavely and provided with notched shoulders 
(arokuaha) near the end opposite the cutting edge to facil- 
itate securing the blade to the cleft end of the handle. 
The handle (aka) is a round piece of wood 3 cm. thick. 
Any hard wood will do, and the length of the handle is 
roughly equal to the length of the blade. A cleft is made in 
one end, into which the non-cutting end of the blade is 
firmly wedged; the junction is lashed together with two-ply 
cordage made of Mauritia bast. A second string of this kind 
(ahutu) connects the blade with the handle like the crossbar 
of the letter A. To prevent this binding from slipping, two 
notches (iwiri) are made on the sides of the blade about 
20 cm. below the cutting edge (PLates LXXXIV-LXXXVI ). 
The Indian had made a new hoe the day before. As it 
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