THE INDIANS OF GUIANA. 57 
the root, fastens one end to a wooden trough, and holding 
the other end against her chest has placed next to her a 
basket filled with the cleaned root, of which she takes 
one in each hand, and in this manner rasps it fine; after 
this, the raspings are taken to be placed into a press, 
called Fourz, to squeeze the juice out of it, when it is fit 
to be made into bread. 
There are some who make this press from a wooden 
bowl, perforated with small holes, in which they place.a 
mat or sieve made of small twigs, placing the flour on it, 
and covering it with aboard, on which heavy stones are 
laid, in order from their weight to squeeze the juice out ; 
others put the flour in bags made of twigs, separated 
from each other by boards, which are squeezed by means 
of a heavy piece of wood or stick, acting like a lever, 
one end of which is fastened to a tree, a heavy stone 
being placed at the other, by which means they are 
squeezed out; or they hang these bags to a branch of a 
tree with a heavy stone at the bottom, the weight whereof 
stretches out the bags, confines them, and the juice is 
thus expressed. After being expressed, the pieces are 
dried on a Barbecot, and afterwards sifted by a Manarie, 
which is a sieve made of iteriti leaves, when they fall 
into a hadbda or basket. The Indians previous to their 
being known to the Europeans, rasped their Cassava 
on pieces of wood, called Samarie, with small stones, or 
on sharp rock stones, which are found high up the river, 
baking the cakes on pans made of clay. 
They have an abundance of Yams, Patates, roots, 
fruits, &c., which we will hereafter describe. 
Drunkenness is the common fault with all Indians, 
there are no meetings or feasts where they do not in a 
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