Foreign Notices : — South America. 485 



should we attempt to enter the bay, would infallibly upset the canoe, and 

 devour its unfortunate occupants. My loud laughter at this absurd notion 

 caused a look of horror to overspread the faces of the Indians, who probably 

 thought that my noise would disturb the aquatic gentleman, and cause our 

 destruction. I used entreaties, threats, promises of money, and every argu- 

 ment I could think of to induce them to pull across the bay, but without 

 effect. The Indians, generally so obedient and obliging, could not overcome 

 the fear to which their superstition subjected them. 



The logies, or habitations of the Indians, consist of upright posts with 

 slanting roofs, tliatched with palm leaves; the sides being entirely open. To 

 the cross rafters are suspended their hammocks; in protecting which from 

 the sun or rain by day, and the heavy dews at night, consists the only utility 

 of these buildings. 



The Indian exhibiting at home so much apathy, it is not at all difficult to 

 suppose that the weight of the burden of domestic labour rests heavily upon 

 the females ; in justice to whom I must say, that their industry, meekness, 

 and obedience are unbounded. To the women is assigned the duty of cul- 

 tivating the cassava root and other vegetables, and of conveying them from the 

 fields, which are oftentimes two or three miles from their habitations. The 

 remainder of their time is occupied in grating the cassava, grinding or rather 

 pounding their Indian corn, &c.; and I have, when sleeping near an Indian 

 settlement, heard the women at work at some of these occupations three or 

 four hours before daylight. The Indians of Guiana indulge in polygamy ; an 

 Indian of middle age having from three to five wives, marrying one when 

 young himself, and taking a young one every few years : by this management, 

 they contrive to have always one wife quite in her youth and beauty. The 

 wives live together in great harmony; the favourite being distinguishable, 

 perhaps, only by having a greater profusion of beads, or a gold coin or two 

 suspended from her neck. The Indians are jealous in the most extreme 

 degree, and very arbitrary with their women ; the slightest dereliction of duty 

 being punishable by death. 



The labour required in cultivating the fruitful soil of Demerara is very 

 slight. The principal article consumed as food by the Indians of Guiana is 

 produced from the root of the bitter cassava. Plantains, yams, bananas, 

 sweet cassava, pine-apples, and water melons comprise, I believe, most of the 

 vegetables and fruits cultivated in the Indian fields. The Indian, however, 

 derives many fruits from the bush ; and, among others, several species of the 

 Palmse produce fine fruits. 



I have before said that from the cassava root is derived the principal vege- 

 table food of the Indians ; and, perhaps, a brief account of the process it 

 undergoes in preparing it for use may be interesting to the readers of the 

 Gardener'' s Magazine. It is well known that a powerful poison is contained 

 in the juice of the bitter cassava; the root, therefore, after having been scraped 

 clean, is grated upon a bamboo grater, and the pulp is put into a straining bag 

 composed of rushes, the meshes of which are so contrived as to lengthen out 

 when a weight is applied. The strainer is then suspended from an upright 

 post, in the lower end of which several notches are cut at small distances from 

 each other : through a loop at the bottom of the bag is inserted a long pole, 

 one end of which is placed in one of the notches of the post, and upon the 

 other end, the woman seats herself; and her weight, causing the bag to ex- 

 tend, squeezes out the juice. As the bag lengthens out, the pole is moved a 

 notch lower down, till the juice is quite expressed, and the meal is turned out, 

 to all appearance, as dry as flour. The meal is then spread out, without the 

 addition of water or other fluid, into cakes about eighteen inches in diameter 

 and a quarter of an inch in thickness. The cakes are placed in the sun, and, 

 in a few hours, become firm, and will keep for a considerable time. The 

 cassava bread possesses a bitter taste, which is peculiarly disagreeable to 

 Europeans, and to overcome which a considerable residence in the country 

 and constant use are necessary. 



