156 Manufacture of Native Drinks. 
with the bleeding bird. I have almost always found the bird solitary, 
rarely in pairs. 
544. On the hunters’ return from their successful trip the bustle and 
activities of the settlement increased. Already before sunrise the older 
women, laden with heavy baskets full of cassava roots and sweet pota- 
toes, were back from the provision fields, while the men brought in nuge 
loads of sugar-cane, the juice of which was to be added to the Taiwan. 
The whole of the fair sex, old and young, were grouped around the bask- 
ets, to peel the roots, to grate, squeeze, and work them up into bread, and 
to boil the potatoes in huge pots. Not a word was said, for their mouths 
were chock-full of cassava, all communication and intelligence being con- 
veyed in pantomime. Had not the sad prospect of being inevitably forced 
to imbibe the disgusting drink scared all gaiety out of me, I would have 
burst into loud laughter on stepping within the circle of this busy con- 
gregation. 
545. A second drink that I saw manufactured here out of maize, 
potatoes, and sugar-cane juice was called Casin' by the Indians. The 
maize is ground in a mortar-shaped vessel and then boiled to a pap : the 
same thing is done with the sweet potatoes. This completed, a quantity 
of cane juice is added to the latter, and then mixed with the maize-brew 
after it has become thoroughly cooled. So far the most sentimental 
stomach of a European has no cause for objection to its preparation, 
were it not that finally a vessel with chewed maize grains which are 
already fully fermented is emptied in to accelerate the fermentation of the 
whole: a certain quantity of water then thins the mass and makes it 
more fluid. The taste of the drink is, for the rest, sweet-sourish and in 
no sense unpleasant. 
54<j. After the huge trough, which certainly held from 4 to 500 
quarts, as well as the larger vessels had been tilled with paiwari and 
casiri, and covered with plantain-leaves, the residents thought about 
their persons and the preparation of their holiday attire. The women 
brought out their little cups and pots with oil made from the Garapo, 
fjuianensis, with which, after the morning bath, they salve both their 
bodies as well as their very beautiful hair, the rich fullness of the latter 
being ascribed especially to its growth-giving qualities. When the 
buckeens want to manufacture this wonderful hair-restorer, they collect 
the chestnut-like fruits and heap them up in a damp spot until they be- 
gin to go bad, when they clean them of their outer seed-coverings and 
crush the kernels to a pap which they knead several times with warm 
water and then expose to the sun in a large trough-like bark receptacle, 
Avhere the oily portions of the fruit soon collect on the surface. Macassar 
oil as well as Dupuytrin’s hair-strengthening Lion Pomade for a long 
time past have had to make room for this oil on the toilet-tables of the 
beautiful creole women. 
547. The boxes made of palm-leaves containing Rucu and Cariacru 
were also prepared in readiness for the morning when the face and body 
were painted in motley colours. The former is made from the fruits of 
Bixa Orellana, the seeds of which are surrounded with a slimy vermilion- 
coloured envelope. These are washed and stirred around in a vessel con- 
taining water until their slimy coverings become quite loosened and can 
