st interesting subject connected with our trip was the
cultivation and preparation of the mandioca. The chief produce is
called farinha: the slaves are fed almost entirely on it. A field of
mandioca, when ripe, looks something like a nursery of young plants.
Each plant grows by itself, with a few palmated leaves only at the top.
The stem is about an inch in diameter at the base, and six or seven feet
long. A bud appears at nearly every inch of the otherwise smooth stem.
These plants give forth tubers of irregular shape, in substance like a
parsnip, about six inches long and four thick. The tubers, after being
scraped and rinsed, are ground, or rather grated against a wheel with a
brass grater as a tire. One slave turns the wheel, and another presses
the root against it. The pulp is then put into bags and pressed. The
matter, which resembles cheese-cake in consistence, is then rubbed
through a wire sieve and thrown into shallow copper pans moderately
heated. After being stirred up, it quickly dries, and the produce is
not unlike oatmeal. The juice pressed out is very poisonous by itself.
It is, however, collected in pans, when a beautifully white substance is
precipitated to the bottom. This substance is tapioca, so largely used
in puddings at home. To plant a field of mandioca, the stems of the old
plants are cut into bits about four inches long, and stuck in the
ground. They quickly take root, and, sending forth shoots from the
buds, are in two years fit again to dig up. The mandioca is called
cassava in some countries. The press used by the Indians is a simple
and most ingenious contrivance. It is made by the Indians wherever the
plant is grown. It is a basket made of fine split cane loosely plaited;
in shape, a tube five feet long and five inches in diameter at the
mouth, and narrowing somewhat at the bottom. A strong loop is left at
each end. To use it, first it is wetted, and then a man holding the
mouth presses the other end against the ground till it is half its
former height. A long smooth stick is now inserted down the middle, and
the pulp is packed tightly round it till the basket is full. It is then
hung to a beam or branch of a tree by a loop at the mouth, while a heavy
weight is attached to one at the bottom, till the basket has assumed its
original tube-like form and length, and the whole of the liquid has been
pressed out of the mass of mandioca.

One of the most curious features in a B