406 DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. XXIV.—B. P. 
the great houses of the heathen Temple of Ucayali, on 
the eve of a great festival. On one side are seen several 
half-naked women, seated on the floor around a heap of 
yucas, and occupied in peeling the skin off them. On 
the other side is a woman busy in putting the cleaned 
roots in a pot large enough for a man to fall into. 
After this has been done, a small quantity of water is 
put in the pot, the yucas are covered with leaves, and 
then boiled; when boiled they are mashed. Advanced 
to this state, they proceed to the most important, and, 
at the same time, most disgusting operation. The 
women, and in some instances the men also, sit down 
once more in a circle round the mashed yucas, taking 
large handfuls in their mouths, which they chew with¬ 
out swallowing, until it is completely saturated with 
saliva, and almost become liquid. In this state the 
filthy mass is spit out, and the operation repeated 
until the required quantity is prepared. After this, a 
small portion of mashed yuca is mixed and kneaded 
with the chewed mass, and then put into pots, which 
are covered up until fermentation sets in. The saliva 
contained in the mashed yuca produces fermentation, 
changes the starch into sugar and the sugar into alco¬ 
hol?— a process which, according to the state of the 
temperature and the existing quantity of saliva, takes 
place in two, three, or four days. This fermented 
mass accompanies the Indians in all their journeys ) 
when wishing to prepare from it their disgusting be¬ 
verage, it is dissolved with a little water.” 
Such exactly, in the latter half of the nineteenth 
century, is “ mushla,” still the favourite beverage of 
