458  CASSAVA  BREAD. 
tion  with  water,  and  boil  with  it  a  quantity  of  peppers,  which 
renders  it  excessively  hot ;  into  this  they  dip  their  meat  and 
cassava  bread  at  meals.  The  colonists  use  the  cassireepe  for 
flavoring  soups,  in  made  dishes,  and  in  making  the  far-famed 
"  pepperpot,"  consisting  of  fish,  meat,  or  fowl,  or  some  of  each, 
boiled  with  the  cassireepe  and  peppers. 
The  residue  in  the  matapa  is  spread  out  in  flat  cakes,  upon 
round  iron  plates  of  different  sizes,  and  baked  over  a  wood  fire. 
The  bread  should  be  perfectly  white,  not  suffered  to  burn,  and 
when  obtained,  kept  perfectly  dry  in  a  tin  box  or  canister.  The 
more  civilized  inhabitants  of  the  tropics  (perhaps  I  should  be 
better  understood  if  I  were  to  call  them  Europeans)  are  not 
satisfied  with  eating  the  cassava  as  obtained  after  baking,  but 
have  it  toasted  and  buttered,  which  greatly  improves  the  flavor, 
and  gives  it  a  pleasant  crispness.  The  grated  cassava  bread  is 
often  used  in  preference  to  crumbed  bread,  for  different  purpo- 
ses. The  bread  may  be  obtained  from  both  plants ;  but,  as  a 
rule,  that  commonly  used  is  prepared  from  the  bitter  cassava 
root,  and  the  root  of  the  sweet  cassava  is  used  in  the  production 
of  tapioca.  The  cassava  bread  of  the  Indians  is  much  thicker 
and  sweeter  than  that  prepared  by  the  colonists.  The  cassava 
is  propagated  by  cuttings,  growing  to  the  altitudes  already  men- 
tioned. Almost  every  leaf  has  one  or  more  excrescences,  about 
half  an  inch  long. 
Piawarri,  an  intoxicating  liquor,  is  made  by  steeping  cassava 
bread  in  water.  The  Indians,  who  are  the  only  manufacturers, 
use  a  long  narrow  trough  or  boat,  hollowed  out  of  the  trunk  of 
O  O  7 
a  tree.  In  order  to  ferment  this  liquor,  several  old  Indian 
squaws,  almost  toothless,  assemble  round  the  boat  with  a  quan- 
tity of  cassava  bread,  which  they  chew  till  well  mixed  with  saliva, 
and  spit  out  into  the  trough.  In  a  day  or  two  it  is  in  a  perfect 
state  of  ferment,  and  ready  to  drink.  Piawarri  is  not  com- 
monly made  as  a  beverage,  but  only  on  special  occasions. 
When  an  Indian  chief  dies,  he  is  buried  in  the  village,  and 
the  other  Indians  quit  the  place  immediately,  leaving  all  their 
implements  of  chase  and  husbandry  and  food  behind  them. 
Twelve  moons  are  allowed  to  pass  over,  when  all  the  Indians 
of  the  chief's  tribe  assemble  at  the  deserted  village  to  feast 
and  dance  the  "  Macquarrie  Whip-dance."    Piawarri  being 
