Dae ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH, ANN. 38 
shape of a brick). This is then strained through a rough sifter 
and the fluid collected in a wooden vessel, where it undergoes alco- 
holic fermentation, and, according as the temperature is cold or hot, 
from 4 days to 24 hours is required for this (Cr, 405-406). In Brit- 
ish Guiana, certainly on the Pomeroon, the maize, after being 
pounded if dry, or grated if fresh, is thrown into warm water and 
boiled, after which it may be drunk straightaway, but if “strong” 
drink is wanted chewed kereli is then added and the liquor strained 
next day. Within three days it is ready for consumption. 
265. Caapim, met with in the Uaupes River district, is an intoxi- 
cating liquor made with a grass, which is perhaps a species of hemp. 
It is very bitter (Cou, m1, 167). 
266. Pineapple juice, an intoxicating liquor, is prepared by peeling 
the fruit and grating it on a sieve, allowing the juice to take its own 
time to ferment. The Arawak have no special word for it, just 
calling it nanna-ura (lit., pine juice). 
267. The wild cashew (Anacardium) similarly yields a very pleas- 
ant alcoholic drink. Arawak call it obudi-ura (lit., cashew juice). 
Cane juice likewise requires no special preparation. While the 
sugar cane 1s being squeezed in the “ mill” (sec. 383) the juice trickles 
down the artificial gutter, whence it is collected. It takes about three 
weeks to fully ferment, and is highly intoxicating. The doubtfully 
Indian name, on the Pomeroon at least, is warrap: the old-time Suri- 
nam Dutch called it graaf (BER, 23). 
Cupana, or guaranai: The Indians of Yavita (on the Atabapo 
River, a branch of the upper Orinoco) scrape the seeds of a species 
of Paullinia, mix them with flour of cassava, envelop the mass in 
plantain leaves, and set it to ferment in water till it acquires a saffron 
yellow color. This yellow paste, dried in the sun and diluted in 
water, is taken in the morning as a kind of tea. The beverage is 
bitter and stomachic, but it appeared to me (says Humboldt) to have 
a very disagreeable taste (AVH, m, 365). The Paullinia above re- 
ferred to is probably P. pinnata, which is a synonym of Serjania 
cutassavica, the sacobora of the vernacular. 
268. Plantain drink is recorded by Gumilla from the Orinoco. 
Before getting too much sun dried the Indians knead plantains with 
warm water, and the dough, which takes on acidity, is subsequently 
strained with warm water into jars and ferments like must, which 
results in a very strong drink that even in small quantity produces 
drunkenness (G, 11, 239). Couscou was a banana drink ( ?fermented) 
made by the Carib Islanders (RO, 501). Yahé, says Crévaux, is 
an intoxicating liquor made from a certain bark, macerated in water, 
but no further particulars are given. He met with it among the 
Coréguaje of the upper Yapura River, one of the northern branches 
of the Amazon (Cr, 362). 
