118 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
its tuberous roots a small amount of hydrocyanic acid which, as it is poisonous, 
must be got rid of by scraping and thorough soaking.! 
In preparing the mandioca for food the roots are first pared of their outer 
rind, and then boiled until quite soft (No. 337). They are often mashed into a 
thick paste in a wooden mortar. The paste is then rolled into balls which are 
cooked again, often in palm oil. The soup thus formed, often seasoned with 
peppers, is eaten with spoons. On account of its glue-like consistency the 
mandioca paste is swallowed without masticating. 
In addition to the two principal crops mentioned, eddoes, plantains, Indian 
corn, beans, peanuts, sweet potatoes, and sugar cane are sometimes raised. In 
some places small amounts of coffee, cotton, and tobacco are found. Some- 
times millet is planted on the edges of the rice fields. In a few spots in the 
eastern part of the country, a small amount of cacao and occasionally oranges 
of fair quality are raised. However, the aboriginal natives do not grow any- 
thing in quantity. When questioned why they did not raise more, they almost 
invariably replied that they only raised enough for their own needs, since any 
surplus was always taken away from them by the authorities. Why, they asked, 
should they work for others? 
Once a week the women collect the produce from the different farms and 
take it to market. In certain sections of the country market day is the most 
important in the week. An open place on the edge of the forest is set aside as 
the market place. The rules of the market are strict, no one may begin to 
barter or trade until all the wares and people from the different villages are 
assembled, and until the chief of the market gives a signal that the market is 
open. Then very active trading and much violent discussion and confusion 
prevail for a number of hours. Objects are directly traded or are paid for 
sometimes with loaves of salt, with heads of tobacco, or with twisted thin iron 
rods about a foot and a half in length, which have all more or less fixed value 
as currency. The Mandingoes are the cleverest traders. From across the border 
of French Guinea, they bring pieces of cloth of bright color and cheap cotton 
prints for clothing which they exchange particularly for kola nuts with the 
other Liberian tribes. These nuts they take or send over the Liberian border 
and dispose of at a higher price in the interior of French Guinea. The Man- 
dingoes also sometimes pay for kola nuts and other agricultural products in 
silver, which later finds its way into the hands of the government in payment 
of the hut tax. 
The food of the Liberians in the interior is mainly vegetable; rice, cassava, 
and yams constitute the staple articles of diet. They are usually steamed or 
boiled, often mixed with palm oil, and are served in large wooden bowls. Some- 
times any meat procurable is also mixed with the vegetables. Maize is also 
grown and eaten in a few places, and okra, eddoes (Colocasia), sugar cane, plan- 
tains, and peppers also form occasional articles of diet. Many of the fruits 
1 Marquand (Bull Soc. Path. Exot. (1928), XXI, 879) has recently reported two cases of fatal as- 
phyxia from insufficiently dry mandioca. A young Malagasy couple made a pile of fresh mandioca in 
their hut, went to bed and were found dead next morning. The autopsy revealed signs of asphyxia. 
White mice placed in a closed space with some of the same mandioca also succumbed. 
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