CASSAVA, THE FOOD OF THE CARTES. 419 



without ends. The grater is made by sinking pieces of 

 stone into a block of wood, one end of which rests on the 

 trough, and the other on the woman's knees, and as she rubs 

 the tubers the juice runs from the trough into a pot on the 

 floor. 



The pulp is then collected and put into a matapie, or 

 squeezer, which is a long tube of closely woven strips of 

 bark, open at the top and closed at the bottom, and from five 

 to six feet in length, and five or six inches in diameter. It 

 acts on the principle of the well-known toy called the 

 Siamese link. As it is stretched, the diameter is lessened, 

 and the pulp is squeezed, the juice running through the 

 meshes into a pot underneath. It is hung on one of the 

 beams of the house and a pole inserted through a loop at the 

 lower end, on which a woman sits, and by jumping up and 

 down alternately lengthens and shortens the tube, thus 

 separating the juice. The pulp now dried, is carefully 

 sifted, and either stored in plantain leaves, or immediately 

 made into cakes on an English griddle ; or, if that is not 

 available, on a large flat stone placed over the fire. The 

 grains of meal soon adhere, and are then thrown on the roof 

 of the hut to dry in the sun. 



Some of the cassava is baked in thicker cakes, and kept on 

 the griddle until quite black, to make the intoxicating liquor 

 known as Pahvdrie. It is then broken up and mixed with 

 water in a jar, and the larger fragments are chewed by the 

 women as they move about their work, while every few 

 minutes they return to the pot and deposit in it the masti- 

 cated portion and again refill their mouths, and the process 

 thus goes on until the whole potful is well mixed with saliva. 

 It is then boiled, and emptied into a paiwarie trough, where 

 it remains until well fermented, when some sugar or cane 

 juice is added to sweeten it. 



