290 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [BTH. ANN. 38 
362. In the upper Rio Negro area Wallace speaks of certain cas- 
sava ovens, varying from 4 to 6 feet in diameter with a sloping rim 
about 6 inches high. These ovens are well made of clay, mixed with 
the ashes of the bark of a tree called caripé, and are supported on 
walls of mud about 2 feet high, with a large opening on one side to 
make a fire of logs (ARW, 337). The illustration which he fur- 
nishes, however (pl. 75 C, 6), shows two stokeholes, thus agreeing with 
the present-day account of them (KG, u, 207). At a Makusi house 
at Nosang-Motah (lit., old woman—little) Mountain, to the east of 
Samarang, a Makusi village on the Brazilian side of the Ireng, I 
saw a large flat clay baking oven resting on six or seven blocks of 
clay around its circumference, and another at its center. Though 
many remains of such clay baking pans were observed in the Makusi, 
Patamona, and Arekuna areas, no others were seen in use. Clay 
hearths are also mentioned on the mainland by St. Clair (StC, 1, 
312), Crévaux (Cr, 119), and Ule (EU, 290). They have also been 
recorded from the islands (RO, 508). 
363. More than a century and a half ago the iron plate for baking 
cassava constituted an article of barter, in conjunction with several 
other articles, for Indian slaves in Cayenne (PBA, 108). 
364. On the upper Orinoco and Guaviar Rivers Crévaux states 
that the Mitoua commence cooking operations by disposing in a 
triangle three stones between which they place their firebrands, thus 
serving as a tripod for their utensils, and forming galleries for cur- 
rents of air (Cr, 514). Schomburgk similarly relates how the 
Makusi on the Rupununi boil their pots over three stones like a tri- 
pod (SR, 1, 360). It was Wallace who first mentioned the set of 
three clay cylinders (pl. 75 B; C, ¢) for supporting cooking uten- 
sils among the Uaupes River Indians (ARW, 350). On the Pome- 
roon, Moruca, ete., all Arawak, Carib, and Warrau have their pots, 
cassava grids, ete., resting on three irons, usually the upturned 
handles of discarded or broken cutlasses. To keep the fire “in,” the 
pieces of firewood are laid so as to converge and meet at the center 
of the hearth. As their ends become gradually consumed, the fuel is 
proportionately pushed more and more toward the center (pl. 76). 
365. For smoothing and leveling the cassava “cake” while on 
the grid, and thus insuring its uniform thickness, Arawak, Carib, 
Makusi, etc., employ a wooden implement with a handle, much after 
the style of a flatiron (pl. 77). It is known as hessu to the Ara- 
wak, among whom, on the Pomeroon, as is the case with the Carib, 
it is now almost obsolete, its purpose being effected with the edge of 
the fan which the woman invariably has by her to keep the fire aflame. 
366. Distinct shapes of fans appear among certain of the tribes, 
as the shovel-shaped (Arawak) and the rectangular (Carib, Aka- 
