214 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



being well stirred the while. It is sometimes put 

 up in barrels, and always commands a ready sale. 

 During the baking process the poisonous quality, 

 which is volatile, escapes, and the people eat with 

 impunity these roots that in a raw state would prove 

 poisonous. The juice itself is made into a drink by 

 being boiled, which is palatable to a native. 



I noticed here a curious method in use to press the 

 cassava dry after it was grated ; it was a cone of 

 woven reeds, so constructed that, when filled with 

 cassava and hung up with a weight attached to its 

 lower end, a continuous and equable pressure was 

 applied to the whole mass. This cone was about four 

 feet long, and perhaps six inches across at the mouth, 

 or larger end, and is an invention of the Caribs, having 

 been found in use by them by the earliest voyagers. 



This farine supplies the place of bread to a great 

 extent, the natives preferring it to that article, and 

 eating it dry by the handful. There are two varieties, 

 the "sweet" and the "bitter" cassava; but the latter, 

 though so dangerous, is more extensively cultivated 

 than the former, which is harmless. 



After inspecting the preparation of the farine, we 

 adjourned to Captain George's cabin, where he re- 

 galed me with numerous stories of the achievements 

 of the Caribs during the war with the English in the 

 last century. He firmly believed that his grandfather 

 and other Caribs owed the preservation of their lives 

 to certain charms obtained from an obeah man in Mar- 

 tinique. 



"One time, six Carib kill um white gen'leman, but 

 dey not see he serbant hide in de bush. When serbant 

 get 'way he tell soloier, ' Carib kill one buckra, my 



