ROTH] DOMESTIC IMPLEMENTS AND REQUISITES 281 
an angle, the outer side rounded off. It was about 5 feet long anid 
7 or 8 inches high at the shallower extremity, which was about 20 
inches wide. From the “ canoe” the cassava is passed into the matapi. 
345. The cassava squeezer, or matapi (pl. 68), which is perhaps 
its true Carib name, is met with from the borders of Cayenne, 
through Surinam and British Guiana, as far westward as the upper 
Rio Negro. This matapi was known in Surinam as the Carib snake 
(FE, 68), and in this connection it is interesting to note the legend 
given by Dance of the first Arawak man, who, by observing the 
motion of a snake while swallowing its prey and the direction of 
the lines upon its back, formed the matapi for expressing the juice 
of the cassava (Da, 102). The scientific history, however, of its 
evolution is very unsatisfactory. The circular sifter supported on a 
triangular frame through which the cassava juice was squeezed by 
hand pressure (sec. 236) would have got more or less sagged in the 
center. This may have led to the kamaiyo basket with a conical base 
(sec. 257), through which the paiwarri drink is still sometimes 
strained, and which, if lengthened and closed at the top, would 
satisfy the necessary conditions for rendering intelligible Van Ber- 
kel’s description of the article as recorded some 250 years ago on the 
Berbice. He speaks of a “ Press about 4 feet long and plaited very 
compactly with fine cane. The women now proceed to sit on it and 
press the overlying cover or board so much that it causes it (the 
juice) to run out below through a certain opening” (BER, 70). Is 
it possible that the present-time method of exerting pressure by 
means of a lever (sec. 355) has been introduced by the negro? 
On the Cuyuni the contrivance was called a tenge (BB, 24); on 
the Waini, where it was made from a species of calathea, Schom- 
burgk speaks of it as atupa (SR, 1, 124); while among the Uaupes 
River Indians Wallace calls it tipiti, at the same time mentioning 
how it constitutes a considerable article of trade, the Portuguese 
and Brazilians not yet having introduced any substitute for this 
rude Indian press (ARW, 337). Wallace employs the term matapi 
to express a wicker creel for catching fish (ARW, 339-340). Other 
names for it are aru-huba (Warrau), ton-ki (Makusi), nirr (Wapi-— 
shana), yuro (Arawak). From the fact that Gumilla, so accu- 
rate an observer, makes no mention of a matapi in his descrip- 
tion of cassava manufacture, though he speaks of the poisonous juice 
being expressed (G, 1, 242), it may perhaps be assumed that the 
article was not known in his day on those portions of the Orinoco 
with which he treats. This conclusion is quite feasible, considering 
that even at the present day on the Uaupes River, not so very far 
away from it, the juice is still expressed by hand pressure (sec. 236). 
60160°—24——_19 
