ROTH] DRINKS PRAT 
with their foliage; each like a natural cistern yielded us upwards of 
a pint of water; that which was on the top clear and pure; the re- 
mainder filled with residue and a slimy matter peculiar to the plant. 
The water is, however, well tasted, and our Indians drank copiousty 
of it” (ScF, 232). Since the ite palms grow only in moist soil or 
swamps, the same traveler relates how, when he failed to procure 
water by digging at the foot of their trunks, he knew that. his search 
would prove hopeless anywhere else in the neighborhood (SeT, 25). 
The same thing is stated of the sandkoker or oronoque tree (Fry- 
thrina glauca), at the roots of which water can be collected in the 
dry season. The Wapishana of the Takutu dug holes on the edges 
of certain swamps to collect it (SR, m, 48, 106). On the Annai sa- 
vanna, in the Rupununi, I observed several such ground pits spe- 
cially dug for collecting and storing water in the dry season, in the 
close neighborhood of the Makusi settlement; the deepest was barely 
a couple of feet. Schomburgk also mentions such pits on the edges 
of the swamps (SR, 1,78). Manicol palms (HZuterpe edulis) are also 
said to be a sure sign of the vicinity of water. Dance is responsible 
for the statement that in the tropics the Indian finds his way to the 
rivers by barking a tree, well knowing that in a line with the thickest 
part is the path to the river (Da, 252). 
255. Wild honey may be mixed with water and drunk, but there is 
no record of its ever being left to ferment. ‘“ Even in its natural 
state this honey differs from that of European bees in that it is not 
viscid, but almost as fluid as water, and has a subacid, highly 
fragrant taste” (IT, 268). 
256. The Guiana Indians are well versed in the manufacture of 
fermented liquors. Gumilla speaks of their obtaining chicha “ from 
whatever seeds they sow, roots they cultivate, or fruits they col- 
lect” (G, 1, 243). Cassava, without doubt, furnishes them with 
the largest number of alcoholic liquors—paiwarri, cassiri, beltiri, 
ovicou, berria, kumani, ete. 
257. Paiwarri, the paiwa of the Akawai, the bai-yauro of the War- 
rau, the irito-atahu (lit., black drink) of the Arawak, the tapana 
of the Surinam Carib, etc., is manufactured as follows: A cassava 
cake, made about 14 inches thick, is burned on the usual flat circular 
iron plate, where it is turned over and over until such time as it 
becomes black through and through, and is called basha. In the 
meantime the cassava juice that has already been squeezed through 
the meshes of the matapi is poured into a pot and boiled until all 
the bitterness has been extracted, but not waiting for the stuff to 
reach too thick a consistence, when water is added to it. The burned 
cassava, after being broken up, is next thrown into the pot, which 
is now taken off the fire, its contents turned out into a wooden trough, 
