MANUFACTURE OF SUGAli 127 



mass thoroughly mixed until it is of the consistency of 

 thin mud. The troughs are then emptied into earthen- 

 ware moulds placed head downwards in holes in the 

 ground. When the sugar has cooled and become solid 

 the moulds are taken out of the ground, and as they are 

 conical in shape the sugar drops out of them in the form 

 of a loaf when they are turned over. These are the 

 papelones or common sugar-loaves one sees everywhere in 

 Venezuela. They are of different sizes and according to 

 the size so many, it may be thirty or forty, go to the 

 cuenta} Papelones are put up in the following manner : 

 Pieces of a fairly thick creeper of a given length are bent 

 to form a circle, the ends being spliced with strips of bark. 

 Similar strips are then woven in large meshes across each 

 hoop. Several kinds of bark are used in Venezuela for 

 this and various purposes. From the majagua {Hibiscus 

 tiliaceus), which is common in many parts of the country, 

 good cordage is made. In the northern mountain range, 

 where all the traffic is performed by pack animals, the 

 trappings of the donkeys and mules are usually plaited 

 from the bark of this hibiscus. The word majagua is used 

 indiscriminately in speaking of the tree or the bark 

 obtained from it. On the Caura two sorts of bark are 

 employed ; one is called coco de mono {Chytro?na rosea), 

 the other caheza negra {Apeiba Tibourbou). These barks, 

 being pliable and strong, are put to many uses by the 

 Indians and Venezuelans. 'Be^idie^ papelones, such articles 

 as cassava and dried fish are always packed between these 

 sieve-Hke affairs of creepers and bark, which are really 

 very handy appliances, easy to make and effective in use. 



' Many articles are sold in Venezuela by the cuenta. A cuenta is a 

 packi ge of a particular size, containing a fixed quantity of some particular 

 artic ! ; thus one hears of a cuenta de cazabe, or a cuenta de papelones. 



