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nent, furnishing the inhabitants with an abundant, cheap and nu- 

 tritious breadstuff, yielding- an enormous quantity of material all 

 the year round. With this the people are independent of the rest 

 of the world for food. Here in Paraguay T do not know how they 

 could get along without it. Corn, or maize, as it is generally called, 

 is indeed raised, but it is a somewhat uncertain crop, and needs 

 more cultivation than the native Paraguayans are disposed to 

 give to anything which requires care. Their chief article of sub- 

 sistence, therefore, is this wholesome and easily raised root, 

 which the laziest people on earth can have with scarcely any labor. 

 As found here, the Mandioca is of two forms or species, each 

 of which has several varieties. One of these, which has borne 

 various botanical names, such as Majiihoi Aipe, Manihot palmata, 

 Janipha Loeflingii and Jatropha dulcis, but called by the Para- 

 guayans " Mandioca dtdce'' is the most common. The other, 

 known to the natives as " Mandioca brava " {Manihot utilissima 

 of botanists), is not so frequently cultivated, though it is often 

 seen in the fields. The sweet Mandioca forms the principal arti- 

 cle of diet of the common people, as its roots are entirely innoc- 

 uous. They may be used as a vegetable for the table, equal- 

 ing the potato or the parsnip, which they much resemble. Boiled 

 for table use they are white, sweet and palatable. All foreign- 

 ers take to them at once. They may be fed to animals in the 

 raw state, and are greedily eaten by cattle without injury. They 

 are full of starch ; indeed, that is the ingredient which renders 

 the Mandioca so valuable, and the roots are frequently used as is 

 the potato in our own country, for the manufacture of this im- 

 portant commercial and domestic necessity. The roots are. 

 grated or ground into powder, and, after the juice is expressed, 

 dried in the sun or on plates over a fire, and thus made into flour, 

 which forms an excellent bread when baked. The Paraguayan 

 method is to knead the bread with new cheese or ground rice, 

 melted fat, salt, water and a little coriander seed, prepare it in 

 long cylindrical rolls or rings, and bake it in the rounded earthen 

 or brick ovens, resembling huge ant hills, which may be seen in 

 the rear of many of the houses. The bread thus prepared is 

 commonly called " chipa." The chipa bread, if I may be allowed 

 to express an opmlon. is, at least when fresh, a delicious article 



