Botanical Reminiscences. 
i6 
jectionable ill the preparation to the most sensitive taste of 
an European, if there had not been at last added to it a vessel 
with chewed maize, which was already in perfect fermen- 
tation, to quicken the same of the whole ; a quantity of 
water is then added to make it more liquid. The taste of this 
drink is by no means disagreeable. 
The gigantic trough (which held about 150 gallons), as 
well as all the greater vessels, had been filled with paiwari 
and kasiri, and after covering them with palm leaves, the 
inhabitants thought of themselves. The women fetched their 
small pots, filled with oil made from the fruit of the Carapa 
guianensis, AubL, and after their bath in the morning, 
anointed their bodies as well as their hair, the abundance of 
which latter is ascribed to the beneficial operation of the oil. To 
make this admirable preparation the women collect the fruits 
of the Oarapa, which are similar to our horse chestnut, put 
them in a heap in a damp place, where they remain until 
they begin to rot ; they then clean the fruits from their 
pericarps and crush the kernels into a pap, which they 
frequently knead through with warm water, and then expose 
it to the sun in oval vessels, made from the bark of trees, 
when the oily substance of the kernel appears on the surface. 
Also the small boxes made from palm leaves, containing the 
roucu and caraoru^ were got ready to paint the face and 
body next morning. The seed of the Bixa Orellana provides 
them with red, and the fruits of the Genipa americana, Lin., 
with a bluish-black color called caracru. 
Before I describe the festivities we witnessed, I will 
mention the manner in which the invited are made to under- 
stand on what day the banquet is to take place, or on what 
day those who have to transact any business are desired to 
appear, the Indians having no special designations for the 
single day. 
If the chief is to give a festival, he chooses as many threads 
as he intends to make invitations to distant friends, and 
strings on each separate, either as many glass beads, or seeds, 
or makes as many knots as there are days between it and the 
celebration of the festivity. - Speedy messengers are now sent 
in all directions with these threads, to inform every friend of 
the chief at one and the same time verbally of the invitation, 
and to deliver the thread, which the invited friend fastens 
on his hammock, to take off* a bead, or seed, or untie a knot 
every morning. On the day on which all the knots are 
