20 EXCUESIONS ABOUT CAEACAS. 



we here found is the yuca,* or mandioca [Manihot utilis- 

 sima), a shrub some ten to twelve feet in height, from the 

 large tubers of which are made the cassava of the Vene- 

 zuelian, and the farina of the Brazilian. The tubers are 

 first grated upon a concave board, thickly set with sharp 

 pieces of quartz gravel. The pulp is rendered still finer 

 by grinding with stones, and the pulverized mass sub- 

 jected to pressure for the purpose of removing, as far as 

 possible, its poisonous jiiice, which contains hydrocyanic 

 or prussic acid. The substance is then formed into round 

 cakes, two feet in diameter, and a quarter of an inch in 

 tliickness, and baked upon concave plates, over a brisk 

 fire, which expels the remaining volatile juice. Farina, 

 the same as the maiioca of the Kio Xegro and Upper Ori- 

 noco, is made by roasting the root, grated, into a coarse 

 flour-like substance. In these forms the yuca constitutes 

 an excellent and nutritious food, which retains its sweet- 

 ness for a long period. The mandioca, or yuca, is exten- 

 sively cultivated throughout the continent of South 

 America, and, with the plantain and banana, constitutes, 

 in many sections, the principal support of the j^eople. 

 Tapioca of commerce is the sediment, obtained from the 

 expressed juice of the mandioca. This plant must not be 

 confounded with the yuca dulce, or sweet yuca {3fanihot 

 aipium), a species similar in appearance, but which con- 

 tains none of the poisonous property of the first. The 

 former is prefered for cassava and maiioca, as it is richer 

 in fccula, while the latter is largely eaten as a vegetable. 



Our return from Encantado was followed by the death 

 of Mr. Wilson, our minister, who contracted a fatal fever 

 while attending diplomatic business at La Guaira, upon 

 the coast. He was buried at Caracas, far away from 

 home and those he loved. But a few weeks previous to 

 his death, his family, who had been with him, returned to 



* Sometimes misspelt yncra^ a plant to which it is in nowise allied. 



