Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/377

 OF THE AMAZON. 337

end of which the woman sits, and thus presses out the remaining liquid. These cylinders, called " tipitis," 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 opening on one side, in which to make a fire of logs of wood. The mandiocca cakes, or " beijii," 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 of their food, and they often pass days without eating anything else, especially when the men are engaged in clearing the forest. For the greater part of the year, however, the men go daily to fish, and at these times they have a good supply of this their favourite food. Meat and game they only eat occasionally ; they prefer jabutfs, or land- tortoises, monkeys, inambus (Tinamus sp.), toucans, and the smaller species of wild nig (Dicotyles torquatus). But they will not eat the large wild pig (D. labiatus), the anta {Tapirus Americanus), or the white-rumped mutun (Crax globiceral). They consume great quantities of peppers (species of Capsicum), preferring the small red ones, which are of excessive pungency : when they have no fish, they boil several pounds of these peppers in a little water, and dip their bread into the fiery soup thus formed.

The poisonous juice expressed from the mandiocca root, when fermented and boiled in various ways, forms sauces and peculiarly flavoured drinks, of which they are very fond. In making their bread they have a peculiarity, not noticed among the neighbouring tribes, of extracting pure tapioca from the

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