This grated _Manioc_ is put in the Press in Sacks
made of coarse Hemp, or Rushes, to get out the superfluous Moisture,
which is not only unwholesome, but poisonous. This, thus press'd, they
take from the Sacks, and pass it through a coarse Sieve called
_Hibichet_; they afterwards bake it two several ways, to make what they
call _Cassave_, or Meal of _Manioc_.

In the first place, when they would make the _Cassave_, they spread the
sifted _Manioc_ upon a Plate of Iron over a clear Fire, which they
tapping down with the Ball of their Hands, make a broad Cake about half
an Inch thick, and two Feet in diameter; and when it is baked on one
side, they turn it on the other: and if they would keep it any time,
they dry it in the Sun.

In the second place, when they would make what they call the Meal, they
put the _Manioc_, grated, pressed, and sifted, as before, upon a great
Copper Plate four Feet in diameter, with a Brim five or six Inches high,
and placed upon a Brick Furnace: They stir it continually with a wooden
_Spatula_, that it may not stick and be baked all alike. This Meal
resembles Bread grosly crumbled, and may be kept a long while in a dry
Place. The Natives do not trouble themselves to make the Meal; they only
eat _Cassave_, which they bake every day, because, when it is hot, it
is more agreeable and palatable.

If they leave the expressed Juice of _Manioc_ to settle, it lets fall a
_Faecula_ to the bottom, called _Moussache_, which they afterwards dry in
the Sun: it is as white as Snow, of which they make very good Cakes,
called in those Parts, _Craquelins_.

The Laundresses use this _Faecula_ instead of Starch, to starch their
Linnen. Some Inhabitants mix one Third of this with two Thirds of
_French_ Meal, and make Bread that is very white, and well tasted.

REMARK VII.

At first sight, one would take a _Balize_-Tree for a _Banane_, they are
so like each other: there is, however, this difference between them,
That the Leaves of the _Balize_-Tree are not so tender, and apt to be
tore; for this reason, they serve the Natives for Table-Cloths and
Napkins, as well as the Negroes, and some of the Planters that live in
the Woods. Sometimes they serve as Umbrella's to shade them from the
Sun, or Showers of Rain, that surprize them.

The Hunters have great assistance from this Plant; for sometimes
finding themselves pressed with Thirst, in Places at some distance from
Rivers or Fountains, they give the Trunk o