CASSIA OF ECONOMIC PLANTS. 97 



farina, especially M. utilisswia, which is the most extensively 

 cultivated. The farina is obtained by grating the fleshy roots 

 to a pulp, the poisonous juice is then expelled by pressure and 

 washing, and the mass is pounded into coarse meal resembling 

 bread crumbs, which is made into cakes and subjected to heat, 

 which dries off all remaining poison. This forms the Cassava 

 Bread, which is an important article of food throughout tropical 

 America. An intoxicating beverage is made from it called 

 Piwarrie, which is prepared by women chewing the cassava 

 cakes, and ejecting the masticated substance into a wooden 

 bowl, where it is allowed to ferment for some days, and then 

 boiled ; it is a common drink with the natives, and is said to 

 have an agreeable taste ; the mode of preparation, however, is 

 repugnant to Europeans, notwithstanding that one who drank it 

 reports thus : — " In my opinion it is very agreeable and whole- 

 some, for I drank it in large quantities at the different Indian 

 settlements I visited." In preparing the Cassava as above 

 stated, the poisonous expressed juice is put into water, the 

 starch which it contains falls to the bottom, the water is poured 

 off, and the starch placed on hot plates ; this causes the starch 

 grams to swell and burst, forming the Tapioca or Brazilian 

 Arrowroot of the shops. Of this substance about 600 to 800 

 tons are imported annually. The plant has been introduced to 

 the Straits Settlements and Travancore, where it is now exten- 

 sively cultivated, and tapioca made in very large quantities both 

 in the form of torrefied grains as before described, and in pearl 

 form, like sago. A large proportion of this tapioca comes to 

 this country. 



In the upper region of the Amazon a kind of tapioca is 

 obtained from a plant supposed to be a species of Menisjjerma- 

 cece. It is called by the natives Bauna Boot ; it has large, 

 tuberous roots like a turnip, some. weighing nearly 50 pounds. 

 It is highly poisonous when fresh, but after repeated macerations 

 yields an excellent tapioca, which constitutes a great part of 

 the food of the Indians. 



Cassia Buds. {Sec Cinnamon.) 



H 



