bitter cassava that tapioca is prepared by elutriation and granulating
on hot plates. This serves to agglutinate it into the form of
concretions, constituting the tapioca of commerce. This being starch
very nearly pure, is often prescribed by physicians as an aliment of
easy digestion. A tolerably good imitation of it is made by beating,
stirring, and drying potato starch in a similar way.

The grated starch of the roots, floated in water, is spontaneously
deposited, and when repeatedly washed and dried in the sun, forms
cassava flour, called "Moussache" by the French.

The juice of the bitter cassava, mixed with molasses and fermented,
has been made into an intoxicating liquor, which is much relished by
the negroes and Indians.

The concentrated juice of the bitter cassava, under the name of
cassareep, forms the basis of the West India dish, "pepper pot." One
of its most remarkable properties is its highly antiseptic power,
preserving meat that has been boiled in it for a much longer period
than can be done by any other culinary process. Cassareep was
originally an Indian preparation.

The manioc or cassava is cultivated in America, on both sides of the
equator, to about latitude 30 degrees north and south. Among the
mountains of intertropical America, it reaches to an elevation of
3,200 feet. It is cultivated also in great abundance on the island of
Zanzibar, and among the negro tribes of Eastern Africa to the
Monomoesy, inclusive; on the west coast of Africa, in Congo and
Guinea. It appears not to have been introduced into Asia. The farina
of the manioc is almost the only kind of meal used in Brazil, at least
in the north, near the equator. An acre of manioc is said to yield as
much nutriment as six acres of wheat. Meyen states, "It is not
possible sufficiently to praise the beautiful manioc plant." The
Indians find in this a compensation for the rice and other cerealia of
the Old World. It has been carried from Brazil to the Mauritius and
Madagascar.

The following quantities of Brazilian arrowroot, or tapioca, were
imported in the undermentioned years:--

Cwts.
1833 942
1834 888
1835 1,663
1836 3,735
1837 2,142
1838 462
1839 402
1840 983
1841 1,870
1843 2,325

St. Lucia grows a considerable quantity of manioc; it exported of
cassava flour in--

Barre