228 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH, ANN. 38 
and boiling water poured over the mixture. To this is now added a 
ealabashful of kereli (the Arawak name), which, the Indians explain, 
prevents the drink becoming slimy and useless. Next day it is strained 
in the conical-shaped basket, the kamaiyo (sec. 424)—a practically 
obsolete article, which is nowadays replaced by the ordinary cassava 
squeezer employed as strainer. Twenty-four hours later the drink 
is ready for the palate, and, if not then used, becomes gradually sour, 
until at the end of, say, three days, it is no good whatever, unless and 
except fresh burned cassava is added and the remaining process of 
manufacture repeated. The kereli above referred to is the chewed 
fresh cassava bread, previously soaked in sugar-cane juice, which 
has been thoroughly saturated with saliva and spat out again by the 
different women and children, sometimes men assisting (ScG, 258). 
In certain areas this chewing process is said to be essentially woman’s 
work. At Taiepong village, on the upper Potaro, the Indians ap- 
parently supplemented the ingredients of their paiwarri by mixing 
with the burned cassava cake the ashes of the huya (Jowrera fluvia- 
tilis) (BB. 201). It is interesting to note that in the early days of 
the eighteenth century oversea passengers landing at Berbice, after 
undergoing the necessary legal formalities, were subsequently regaled 
in the governor’s house with a pipe and a bowl of paiwarri (Ti, 4, 
83, p. 334). 
258. Cassiri, cachiri, etc., is so called from the red “ potato” or 
“yam,” the cashiri of the Arawak, which gives the drink its dis- 
tinctive color, this being always of a pinkish red. After being peeled 
and grated the cassava is squeezed dry between the hands, any bal- 
ance of the wet stuff left being squeezed in the matapi and used up 
for ordinary “house bread.” The dried portion is put with water 
into a pot, where it is boiled and stirred until all the bitterness is 
gone, by which time it has become fairly thick, the bitterness being 
gauged by the taste. It is now taken off the fire and mixed in the 
wooden trough with some of the red liquid previously obtained by 
boiling the red potatoes in water. (Another method is to boil the 
scrapings of the potato with, and in the same pot as, the hand- 
squeezed cassava, and then to place the mixture in the trough.) 
Kereli is next added, and the whole strained during the course of the 
following morning, when it is put into jugs (uncorked) and is fit for 
drinking three days later. Among the Warrau on the Barima, 
Schomburgk speaks of cassiri drink manufactured from maize, pota- 
toes, and cane juice (SR, 1, 201; m1, 212). 
259. Beltiri is a name derived from the Arawak word beletto, sig- 
nifying anything soft or jelly-like. Whereas paiwarri and cassiri 
are used chiefly for purposes of feasting and sport, beltiri is essen- 
tially a drink for home consumption. I would instruct anyone in its 
