MANIOC PORRIDGE. 327 



these are planted pieces of the manioc stalk, at four feet apart. 

 A crop of beans or ground-nuts is sown between them, and when 

 these are reaped the land around the manioc is cleared of weeds. 

 In from ten to eighteen months after planting, according to the 

 quality of the soil, the roots are fit for food. There is no neces- 

 sity for reaping soon, as the roots do not become bitter and dry 

 until after three years. When a woman takes up the roots, she 

 thrusts a piece or two of the upper stalks into the hole she has 

 made, draws back the soil, and a new crop is thereby begun. The 

 plant grows to a height of six feet, and every part of it is useful : 

 the leaves may be cooked as a vegetable. The roots are from 

 three to four inches in diameter, and from twelve to eighteen inches 

 long. 



There are two varieties of the manioc or cassava — one sweet 

 and wholesome, the other bitter and containing poison, but much 

 more speedy in its growth than the former. This last property 

 causes its perpetuation. When we reached the village of Ka- 

 pende, on the banks of the rivulet Lonaje, we were presented 

 with so much of the poisonous kind that we were obliged to 

 leave it. To get rid of the poison, the people place it four days 

 in a pool of water. It then becomes partially decomposed, and 

 is taken out, stripped of its skin, and exposed to the sun. When 

 dried, it is easily pounded into a fine white meal, closely resem- 

 bling starch, which has either a little of the peculiar taste 

 arising from decomposition, or no more flavor than starch. 

 When intended to be used as food, this meal is stirred into 

 boiling water: they put in as much as can be moistened, one 

 man holding the vessel and the other stirring the porridge 

 with all his might. This is the common mess of the country. 

 Though hungry, we could just manage to swallow it with the 

 aid of a little honey, which I shared with my men as long as it 

 lasted. It is very unsavory {Scottice wersh); and no matter 

 how much one may eat, two hours afterward he is as hungry as 

 ever. When less meal is employed, the mess is exactly like a 

 basin of starch in the hands of a laundress ; and if the starch 

 were made from diseased potatoes, some idea might be formed of 

 the Balonda porridge, which hunger alone forced us to eat. San- 

 turu forbade his nobles to eat it, as it caused coughing and ex- 

 pectoration. 



