176 
WANDERINGS IN 
THIRD 
JOURNEY. 
Ferment¬ 
ed liquor. 
Their ha¬ 
bits. 
papaws, sweet and bitter cassava, plantains, sweet 
potatoes, yams, pine-apples, and silk-grass. Besides 
these, they generally have a few acres in some fertile 
part of the forest for their cassava, which is as bread 
to them. They make earthen pots to boil their pro¬ 
visions in ; and they get from the w'hite men flat 
circular plates of iron, on which they bake their 
cassava. They have to grate the cassava before it 
is pressed, preparatory to baking; and those Indians 
who are too far in the wilds to procure graters from 
the white men, make use of a flat piece of wood, 
studded with sharp stones. They have no cows, 
horses, mules, goats, sheep, or asses. The men hunt 
and fish, and the women work in the provision 
ground, and cook their victuals. 
In each hamlet there is the trunk of a large tree, 
hollowed out like a trough. In this, from their 
cassava, they make an abominable ill-tasted and sour 
kind of fermented liquor, called piwarri. They are 
very fond of it, and never fail to get drunk after every 
brewing. The frequency of the brewing depends 
upon the superabundance of cassava. 
Both men and women go without clothes. The 
men have a cotton wrapper, and the women a bead- 
ornamented square piece of cotton, about the size of 
your hand, for the fig-leaf. Those far away in the 
interior, use the bark of a tree for this purpose. 
They are a very clean people, and wash in the river, 
or creek, at least twice every day. They paint them¬ 
selves with the roucou, sweetly perfumed with hayawa 
or accaiari. Their hair is black and lank, and never 
