Brazil, the Amazons and the coast .. . caused by a mass of fermenting mandioca-roots,Avhicli have lain here probably two days. This part of theprocess is not a pleasant one, and the girl who comes downto fill her knapsack-basket from the reeking mass in the pool,excites a great deal of groundless commiseration ; she onlylaughs to see our wry faces, and walks up the pathway withher sixty pounds of fermented roots, as blithely as she wouldwith a basket of fragrant oranges. We follow, at a distance,to the little open shed where farinha is prepared. Half adozen women and boys are cleaning the mand
Brazil, the Amazons and the coast .. . caused by a mass of fermenting mandioca-roots,Avhicli have lain here probably two days. This part of theprocess is not a pleasant one, and the girl who comes downto fill her knapsack-basket from the reeking mass in the pool,excites a great deal of groundless commiseration ; she onlylaughs to see our wry faces, and walks up the pathway withher sixty pounds of fermented roots, as blithely as she wouldwith a basket of fragrant oranges. We follow, at a distance,to the little open shed where farinha is prepared. Half adozen women and boys are cleaning the mandioca as it isbrought in ; the tough outer skin is easily separated fromthe softened inner mass, and the roots are piled in a greatwooden trough, the half of a hollowed itmcba log ; here theyare grated on a board covered with sheet copper full of nail-holes. Francisca in \\qv fcsta dress may be pretty ; but asshe stoops over the grater with a root in each hand, sheaffords a too-powerful reminder of that detestable northern 382 machine—the scrubbing-board. Her bare arms and blackdress are spattered with the whey-like juice; her rebellioushair is just falling away from the confining comb ; her brown face, glowing with perspiration,gives the lie to our ideas of In-dian laziness. Meanwhile, MissLizia is rubbing the grated massthrough a basket-work sieve, toremove the larger fragments ofwoody fibre ; then the mandi-oca is ready for the next stage—straining in the tipiti. Thisis a long,narrow bag,or ratherpipe, wovenfrom stripsof palm- fibre; the^ strips run di-^g agon allyaround the^^ft bag, so that straining the Mandioca. thc CaOacitV can be increased by simply forcing the ends together, caus-ing the elastic sides to bulge out; in this shortened conditionit is filled. Now, if it is hung up and drawn out forcibly, themass within will be compressed and the juice will run outthrough the interstices ; in the same manner a farmers wifestrains whey from a cloth bag. To increa
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbrazild, bookyear1879
