INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL OBERG 



21 



harvest the roots according to their needs. First 

 the husband pulls out the stalk and then the 

 women and children dig up the roots with digging 

 sticks. The roots vary in size from 6 inches to as 

 much as 3 feet, 18 inches being an average size. 

 The large tubers are tied into a bundle and the 

 smaller ones are placed in a rectangular basket, 

 iripari, about 3 feet long by 2 feet wide and 6 

 inches high. The bundles and baskets are then 

 carried back to the village on the heads of the 

 members of the family. If manioc is to be prepared 

 for a ceremony or for a voyage, large quantities 

 are dug up. It is customary, however, to leave 

 the manioc in the ground until required. If deer or 

 wild pigs threaten the field most of the tubers will 

 be taken from the ground and stored after drying. 



PROCESSING 



Whether the task of preparing manioc is per- 

 formed in the central part of the house or in an 

 adjoining shed depends upon the size of the house 

 and the availability of space. A small overcrowded 

 house does not allow enough room for the large 

 pots, baskets, graters, and sieves necessary for the 

 work. A roof over the heads of the workers, of 

 course, is necessary to provide shade in the dry 

 season and to shed rain in the wet season. Once 

 the tubers are brought in they are deposited near 

 the large flat pots which are the principal items in 

 the round of processing activities. 



As there are three different tasks in the general 

 processing of manioc, it is customary for three 

 women to work together. The first woman peels 

 the tubers by scraping off the dark-brown skin 

 with a shell knife or scraper, itd. Seated on the 

 ground before a bundle or basket of tubers, she 

 takes a tuber and holding it upright, with one end 

 resting on the ground between her thighs, she 

 scrapes downward until the tuber is clean and 

 white. The peeled tuber she then places upright in 

 a pot half-filled with water to keep the tuber moist. 



The second woman, who performs the grating, is 

 seated before a larger pot, roughly 2 feet in 

 diameter, over which she places the grater, ivehe. 

 The grater is a wooden board about 3 feet long and 

 9 inches wide at each end, narrowing toward the 

 center to a width of about 6 inches. In the central 

 part of the board, covering an area of about 18 

 inches long and 6 inches wide, are embedded the 



fine teeth for grating, which may be of shell, thorn, 

 fish teeth, or spikes made from tucum palm thorns. 

 It is customary for the woman to place the pot 

 before an upright house or shed post so that one 

 end of the grater is braced against it while the 

 other end is held against her abdomen. She then 

 takes a peeled tuber and, holding it upright in both 

 hands, rubs it back and forth over the teeth until 

 it is reduced to shreds. Periodically she dips the 

 tuber into the water pot and sweeps the pulp from 

 the grater into the pot below it with her hand. 

 When the pot is full she adds cold water and stirs 

 it so that the water and pulp are thoroughly mixed. 



The third woman, who does the pressing, is 

 seated before a still larger pot over which are 

 placed 3 narrow strips of bamboo on which is 

 spread the sieve, iuavi. The sieve which is about 

 24 inches long and 16 inches wide is made from 

 thin strips (one-eighth inch in diameter) of buriti 

 palm leaf fiber woven together with cotton twine 

 at intervals of 2 to 3 inches. The sieve thus looks 

 like a reed mat; it can be rolled up or folded 

 laterally but not longitudinally. The interstices 

 are close enough not to permit bits of pulp from 

 falling through but far enough apart to allow the 

 juice and fine sediment to fall into the pot below. 



The pot over which the processing is done is 

 near enough to the grating pot so that the woman 

 performing the pressing can reach it while seated. 

 With the gourd dipper she takes out a quart or so 

 of the wet mass and places it on the sieve. She 

 spreads it evenly along the surface and then folds 

 one side of the sieve over it. She then begins to 

 squeeze the sieve with her hands, moving along 

 the roll several times. She then, rolls the sieve 

 tighter and again squeezes along the roll. She 

 continues until she can expel no more juice. 

 After unrolling the sieve she takes the white 

 moist mass and rolls it into a round ball, which 

 is then placed on a round basket tray to dry. If 

 the quantity is large, the balls may be placed on a 

 platform. Some women, instead of rolling the 

 pulp into a round ball, separate the long sausage- 

 like roll of pulp into four parts and press the pieces 

 together to form a segmented block showing the 

 pattern of the sieve on the outside. 



After several days in the sun and wind the balls 

 are dry and ready to be ground into meal for 

 making the flat pancakelike menyu. The pulp, 

 either moist or in the form of dry balls, is known 



