484 
ON THE ABORIGINES 
cheaper than the copper graters used in other parts of 
Brazil. The pulp is placed to drain on a large sieve 
made of the bark of a water-plant. It is then put into 
a long elastic cylinder made of the outer rind, or bark, 
of a climbing palm, a species of Desmoncus : this is 
filled with the half-dry pulp, and, being hung on a cross- 
beam between two posts, is stretched by a lever, on the 
further end of which the woman sits, and thus presses 
out the remaining liquid. These cylinders, called “ti- 
pitis,’’ are also a considerable article of trade, and the 
Portuguese and Brazilians have not yet introduced any 
substitute for this rude Indian press. The pulp is then 
turned out, a dry compact mass, which is broken up, 
and the hard lumps and fibres picked out, when it is 
at once roasted on large flat ovens from four to six feet 
in diameter, with a sloping rim about six inches high. 
These ovens are well made, of clay mixed with the ashes 
of the bark of a tree called '' caripe,” and are supported 
on walls of mud about two feet high, with a large open- 
ing on one side, to make a fire of logs of wood beneath 
them. The mandiocca cakes, or ''beiju,’’ thus prepared, 
are sweet and agreeable to the taste ; but the Indians 
generally first soak the roots some days in water, which 
softens and ferments them, and gives the bread a sour 
taste, much relished by the natives, but not generally so 
agreeable to Europeans. The bread is made fresh every 
day, as when it gets cold and dry it is far less palatable. 
The women thus have plenty to do, for every other day 
at least they have to go to the field, often a mile or two 
distant, to fetch the root, and every day to grate, prepare, 
and bake the bread ; as it forms by far the greater part 
