96 
Manufacture of Cassarip. 
erably shortened and widened, was then slung by its upper loop onto one 
of the house-beams: on the other hand a long staff was passed through 
the lower loop up to more than half its length, its shorter end being 
caught under a strong peg that had been wedged into the ground previ- 
ously. Two or three women thereupon placed themselves at the longer 
end and forced it down with all their might, so that the yielding and 
shortened cylinder, owing to the pressure, gradually became longer and 
longer. All the watery and poisonous contents of the tubers, which the 
forcible stuffing had not separated as yet, were now completely express- 
ed, collected in a large pot, thickened by long boiling and evaporation 
and seasoned with a strong proportion of Capsicum. All the poisonous 
constituents are volatilised during the evaporation and the juice thus 
thickened used as sauce for meat. If an animal of any description 
should partake of only a small quantity of the fresh juice, violent con- 
vulsions are set up shortly afterwards, these increase in virulence more 
and more, at the same time that the whole body becomes considerably 
swollen, both symptoms finally ending in death. The “pepper-pot” of 
the Dutch colonists celebrated for the past hundred years depends for 
its chief ingredient upon this sauce, into which the meat left over is 
thrown after each meal: fresh Cassarip (the name of this thickened 
sauce) is now and again poured over it. The greater the age of such a 
pot, the greater the store set on it: the one belonging to a Dutch family 
must have been therefore a real gem, which the housewife had known 
how to keep unspoiled and of course also uncleaned for thirty years. 
331. After the women had squeezed out the juice completely, the 
mealy mass was rubbed by others through a $sort of sifter and strewn 
onto a large iron plate heated by a fire kindled underneath, and baked 
to a cake. The griddles for this purpose are manufactured in England 
and sold in the Colony to the coastal tribes. 
332. Kolling and tumbling about in the dirt in front of the houses 
(he children were cutting the most ridiculous capers and grimaces and 
would run shrieking and yelling into the arms of their busied mothers, 
as soon as 1 or any of my companions made a show pf approaching 
them. To the devilish noise of the little goblins was added every time 
that of numerous yelping and starved dogs crouching alongside the 
women, when a kick or a blow on the part of their strict mistress with 
the first convenient piece of household furniture drove them howling 
and whining to a distance. The housemasters lay rocking and dang- 
ling in their hammocks and watched their plagued and weary women 
with the utmost indifference and complacence. 
333. The rest of the time still left to us in Cumaka was just as lively 
and animated as at first. Every succeeding day brought fresh strangers 
attracted partly by curiosity and partly by the wish to trade. The 
news of our arrival must have been spread broadcast unusually fast be- 
cause the village was soon transformed into a regular encampment. 
The houses were no longer able to hold the total numbers of strangers 
who now had to sling their hammocks in between the neighbouring trees 
and set up their travelling hearths close by. My brother’s arrival with 
the remainder of the expedition increased the excitement still further 
and renewed all those deafening scenes again, 
