202 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 



twelve in number. These huts are always in the 

 forest, near a river or some creek. They are 

 open on all sides (except those of the Macoushi), 

 and covered with a species of palm leaf. 



Their principal furniture is the hammock. It 

 serves them both for chair and bed. It is com- 

 monly made of cotton; though those of the Wa- 

 rows are formed from the *ta tree. At night they 

 always make a fire close to it. The heat keeps 

 them warm, and the smoke drives away the mos- 

 quitos and sand-flies. You sometimes find a table 

 in the hut; but it was not made by the Indians, 

 but by some negro, or mulatto carpenter. 



They cut down about an acre or two of the 

 trees which surround the huts, and there plant 

 Pepper, Papaws, Sweet and Bitter Cassava, Plan- 

 tains, Sweet Potatoes, Yams, Pine-Apples, and 

 Silk-Grass. Besides these, they generally have a 

 few acres in some fertile part of the forest fortfceir 

 cassava, which is as bread to them. They make 

 earthen pots to boil their provisions in ; and they 

 get from the white men flat circular plates of iron, 

 on which they bake their cassava. They have to 

 grate the cassava before it is pressed, preparatory 

 to baking; and those Indians who are too far in 

 the wilds to procure graters from the white men, 

 make use of a flat piece of wood, studded with 

 sharp stones. They have no cows, horses, mules, 

 goats, sheep, or asses. The men hunt and fish, 

 and the women work in the provision ground, and 

 cook their victuals. 



In each hamlet there is the trunk of a large tree, 

 hollowed out like a trough. In this, from their 

 cassava, they make an abominable ill-tasted and 



