88 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 12 



of rapadura per month. The supply of cane on 

 his and neighboring farms, however, does not 

 make possible such large-scale operation. 



Cidrao also is made on this farm. It is prepared 

 by adding the pulp of the cklra fruit, a species of 

 citron, to cane sirup before the final boiling. The 

 cidra is grated on a heavy stone wheel, about 3 

 feet in diameter, which is turned by hand. The 

 mass is then put in a tipiti ^'° and the juice expelled. 

 The tipiii is a flexible, oval-shaped basket, about 

 15 inches in diameter and 10 inches deep, made of 

 sape. At tlie upper rim, the ends of the sape have 

 been left loose to afford hand holds for pulling and 

 twisting the basket to press out through its open- 

 ings the excess liquid (pi. 12, e) . The cidra pulp is 

 then added to an approximately equal quantity of 

 cane sirup and boiled until the whole is about to 

 crystallize. It is then poured into small molds 

 and left to cool, subsequent to which the cakes are 

 wrapped in dry corn husks for selling as a con- 

 fection. 



BRICKMAKING 



There are in the community two olarias, or small 

 establishments for making brick. Only one of 

 these is functioning at present and it began opera- 

 tions within the past year. Work is intermittent, 

 depending upon local needs or requests from neigh- 

 boring communities. 



The olaria is located near a plentiful supply of 

 clay. The upper 8 inches or so of topsoil are first 

 scraped away because of their organic-matter 

 content. The clay is then dug out with an enxadao 

 and shoveled into a ca^amba,^'''^ in which it is 

 hauled about 60 yards to the picador. The picador 

 is a pit dug in the ground, about 5 feet deep, 61/2 

 feet long, and 4 feet wide, the sides of which are 

 then lined with boards. To fill it, approximately 

 15 trips must be made with the ca^amha. 



If the clay, as the local phrase has it, is "very 

 strong," it is mixed with a small quantity of sand 

 or, if "weak," with other clay which is "stronger." 

 The sand is brought from Cruz Preta, a point about 

 4 miles away which is named, like the road itself, 

 for a large cross, made of dai'k-colored wood, 

 standing by the roadside. Water brought to the 

 picador by way of a bamboo aqueduct from a near- 

 by slough is then added, and the mass turned and 



"™ On this farm, the word is pronounced tapiti. 

 »■" See Tools and Other Equipment, p. 55. 



stirred with an enxadao and a shovel, by a man 

 working in the pit, until it has the proper con- 

 sistency. This process is "by rule of thumb" and 

 requires considerable skill and experience. 



After being left to stand until the following 

 day, this viscous mass is taken out of the picador 

 and shoveled into the pipa which stands along- 

 side. The pipa is a wooden barrel about 5 feet 

 high and 3 feet in diameter to whose upper part 

 lias been clamped a vertical axle which turns 13 

 iron paddles, each about 5 inches wide and 12 

 inches long, inside the barrel. The axle is made to 

 revolve by means of a pole about 12 feet long and 

 10 inches in diameter, called the manjarra, which 

 is pulled round and round by two mules or bur- 

 ros. When the pipa has been filled, the animals 

 are set to work at the manjarra and the mass is 

 thus thoroughly mixed and passes, little by little, 

 out a hole about 12 inches square, cut into the 

 lower part of the pipa. 



With a lodoque, a girl then cuts and scoops up 

 chunks of this well-mixed clay and lays them on a 

 wheelbarrow. The hodoque is a piece of wood 

 about an inch and a quarter wide which, after 

 being bent to form a semicircle, is held fast by a 

 taut wire about 16 inches long. The wire cuts 

 through the clay and enables it to be picked up in 

 small amounts to facilitate handling. The chunks 

 are then hauled a few yards and dumped on the 

 ground near a wooden bench, called the hanca, 

 where a man picks up the clay with his hands and 

 places it in a wooden mold, about 2 feet long. The 

 mold has two separate compartments, each the size 

 and form of the desired brick. They have been 

 lightly sanded so that the clay will not stick to the 

 form but come away easily. Wlien the mold has 

 been filled, the excess clay is cut away with a sec- 

 ond and smaller iodoque and the mold is carried 

 and upended onto the ground at a convenient spot 

 (pi. 8, &), so that the two newly formed bricks 

 drop out alongside the other bricks molded that 

 day, all of which are then left to dry for 24 hours. 



The bricks subsequently are stacked in long 

 rows about 5 feet high, called gamhetas, and tiles 

 are laid over each row so that the bricks are pro- 

 tected sufficiently to withstand an ordinary rain. 

 They are left here from 3 days to a week, de- 

 pending on the weather and the consequent rate 

 of drying, after which they are hauled to a nearby 

 shelter for storing or taken directly to the kiln. 



