52 THK ABORIGINES OF PORTO RICO 



West Indies employed practically the same method as that now used 

 by the kindred people of Venezuela and Guiana. 



The details of cassava manufacture vary somewhat among those 

 Indians who now use the root, Init all seem to adopt a similar method 

 of extracting the poisonous juice. Good descriptions of the process 

 adopted by the Orinoco races are given in Gilii." but perhaps the most 

 comiDlete account, with illustrations, is by im Thurn,'' as follows: 



One woman, squatting on her hams, and armed with a big knife, peels off tlie skin 

 of the cassava roots, which lie in a heap at her side. Each root, after being i)eeled, 

 is A\ashed and then thrown on to a new heap. A little way off another woman stands, 

 and, grasping one of the peeled roots with both hands, scrapes it up and down an 

 oblong board or grater studded with small fragments of stone and so roughened like 

 a nutmeg grater. One end of the grater stands in a trough on the ground, the other 

 rests against the woman's knees. Jt is violent exercise. 



As the woman scrapes, her body swings down and up again from her hiiis. The 

 rhythmic "swish " caused by the scraping of the juicy root is the chief sound in the 

 house, for the labor is too heavy to permit of talking. The cassava, which slips as 

 pulp from the scraper into the trough, is collected and put into a long wicker-woven 

 matapie, which hangs from the roof. This malapie, or cassava squeezer, is in principle 

 exactly like the not uncommon toy known as a " Siamese link." It is a cylinder, 7 or 

 8 feet long and .5 or 6 inches in diameter, made of closely woven strips of jiliant bark. 

 The upper end is open and has a hoop by which the matapie may be suspended from 

 one of the beams of the house; the lower end is closed, but it also has a hoop, the 

 u.se of which will presently ajipear. 



The cassava, saturated with its highly poi.«onous juice, is now forced into the 

 matapie; through the loop at the bottom of this a heavy pole is passed, one end of 

 which is allowed to rest on the ground and is there fastened by means of a heavy 

 stone or some other device, while the other is raised in the air. A woman now sits 

 on the raised end of the pole and her weight stretches the malapie downwards. In 

 proportion as the length of the cylinder increases its diaiueter is of course reduced. 

 The pressure thus applied to the cassava pulp immediately forces the poisonous juice 

 out through the walls of the malapie. 



The juice drops down into a buck -pot which stands on the ground; and it is this 

 which, when it is afterward boiled, becomes cassareep, a thick treacle-like liquid, 

 which is no longer poisonous. . . . The cassava, now dry and free from juice, 

 is taken from the matapie, broken into a sieve, and sifted, so that it becomes a 

 coarse flour. This is either wra|)ped in leaves and put aw'ay for future use or is at 

 once made into bread. 



A large circular griddle, or ]ilate, of F,uro])ean manufacture, is now placed over 

 the fire or, by some of the remote Indians, a flat slab of stone is used for this pur- 

 pose, and there can be little doubt that this stone was originally universally used. 

 On the griddle, whatever its material, a thin layer of the meal is spread. A woman, 

 fan in hand, sits by the fire watching. With her fan she smooths the upper surface 

 of the cake and makes its edges round. In a very few minutes one side of the large, 

 ■round, white cake is done; and, when it has been turned, in yet a couple of minutes 

 the bread is ready. When a sufficient number of these oatcake-like pieces of bread 

 have been made, they are taken out of the house and thrown upon the roof to dry in 

 the sun. . . . When thoroughly sun dried the bread is hard and crisp, with 

 a flavor like that of freshly gathered nuts. In this state, if guarded from damp, it 

 will keep for an indefinite time. . . . 



<iF. S. Gilii, .Saggio di Storia .^mericanft. Romf. 17S2. 

 !> Among tlif liiclians nf Guiana. London, 1S.S3. 



