roTH] DRINKS 231 
are kneaded into a, paste, together with the chewed mass and the 
thickened juice of the manihot ... Fermentation commences after 
four or five days. If the Indian wants to quench his lively thirst he 
just takes a small quantity of the stuff, puts it into a drinking cup, 
pours water on it, and stirs the contents until they are dissolved ” 
(SR, nm, 4). 
263. Maby was manufactured by the Carib Islanders from potatoes 
boiled with water (RO, 501), apparently without any admixture 
of cassava, but unfortunately no further description has been handed 
down to us. The following is a Demerara River Akawai receipt for 
making the so-called mabi or red-potato drink of the Creoles: Com- 
mence operations in the afternoon. Take red potatoes, scrape off the 
outer skins lightly, and boil the whole until soft. Then mash up 
fine in a mortar, and throw into a jar or tub with boiling or cold 
water. Leave all night. In the morning strain through a fine sieve 
and add sugar, place in a close, corked vessel, jar, or bottle for two 
or three days; in about two days it begins to work. 
264, Maize drink runs the various products of cassava very closely 
in the way of a favorite alcoholic liquor, and its methods of pro- 
duction afford interesting illustration of the different ways by which 
fermentation may be secured. Starting with the Orinoco, Gumilla 
tells us how, from maize, ground with the vigor of a woman’s arms, 
the Indians make their loaves, which, inclosed in leaves, they cook 
not in an oven but in boiling water, having some very large earthen 
vessels (ol/as) for the purpose. They call this bread cayzi. They 
usually crumble it when it is fresh and knead it up a second time in 
a large quantity of hot water. Having crushed to powder four of 
these old loaves full of mold, which they call subibizti, they mix the 
said powder into that liquid dough, which, placed in large earthen 
jars (tinajas), effervesces on the third day, there resulting a chicha 
or healthy beer if taken in moderation (G, mu, 242). The same 
method of preparation was apparently practiced in Surinam, for 
Stedman speaks of a beverage (chiacoar) composed from the maize 
or Indian corn, which is first ground and baked into bread, after 
which it is crumbled and macerated with water till it ferments (St, 
1, 392). Crévaux’s description differs from the above in the addition 
of sugar. With banana leaves the Indians make up parcels con- 
taining 2 to 3 kilograms of maize meal. They boil these for 10 
hours in a saucepan containing water and then hang them up in their 
huts or leave them out in the air for from 15 to 20 days. These be- 
come covered with a mold, which is yellow on the elevated plains 
but green on the warm lands. It is now time for them to take the 
parcels down and dissolve their contents in water containing a small 
quantity of panela (i. e., nonrefined sugar made up into cakes of the 
