CASSAVA. 155 



which is then performed on a hot iron hearth. The 

 pulp being placed on this, forms itself into a very 

 thin cake, similar in form to a pancake, and fifteen 

 inches or more in diameter. During the period oc- 

 cupied in this baking, the cake is kept constantly in 

 motion to prevent its being partially burnt, and as 

 soon as it is crisp is removed from the fire : when 

 sufficiently cool it is then quite fit for use. If kept 

 in a dry situation, these cakes will remain good for a 

 very long period. 



To whatever cause the poisonous quality of the 

 juice of bitter cassava may be owing, it is so highly 

 volatile as to be entirely dissipated by exposure to 

 heat. Even a comparatively low temperature suffices 

 for correcting its deleterious nature ; for when the root 

 has been cut into small pieces and exposed during 

 some hours to the direct rays of the sun, cattle may 

 be fed on it with perfect safety. If the recently ex- 

 tracted juice be drunk by cattle or poultry, these will 

 speedily become much swollen and die in convul- 

 sions ; but if this same liquid is boiled with meat and 

 seasoned, it forms a favourite soup, called by the 

 Brazilians casserepo, and which is found to be whole- 

 some and nutritious. Dr Pinckard mentions having 

 partaken of this soup in Demerara.* 



Stedman acquaints us that the Indians of Guiana, 

 among whom cassava forms the chief bread, first 

 grind the root on a rough stone, and then, for the 

 purpose of separating the juice, prepare a curious 

 kind of press out of reeds, which being disposed in 

 the form of a long tube and secured at bottom, the 

 ground pulp is introduced, and the press being sus- 

 pended to a tree, a heavy stone or log of wood is 

 fixed to the bottom, the weight of which draws the 

 tube gradually together, by which means the juice is 

 squeezed through the interstices. Occasionally the 



* Notes on the West Indiss, vol. ii, p. 257. 



