There were large wooden vessels pointed at the ends like little canoes.
They were nothing more than the spathes or flower-sheaths of one of the
largest of palms, the "_Inaga_." This noble tree rises to the height of
one hundred feet, and carries feathery fronds of more than fifty feet in
length. The spathes are so large that they are used by the Indian women
for cradles and baskets; and their wood is so hard, that hunters often
cook meat in them, hanging them over the fire when filled with water!

Many other singular implements might have been noticed in the new home.
One, a cylinder of what appeared to be wood, covered thickly with
spinous points, hung against the wall. That was a grater, used for the
manioc, or yucca roots; and it was a grater of nature's own making, for
it was nothing more than a piece of one of the air roots of the
"pashiuba" palm, already described. Another curious object hung near
this last. It was a sort of conical bag, woven out of palm-fibre, with a
loop at the bottom, through which loop a strong pole was passed, that
acted as a lever when the article was in use. This wicker-work bag was
the "tipiti." Its use was to compress the grated pulp of the manioc
roots, so as to separate the juice from it, and thus make "cassava." The
roots of the yucca, or manioc plant, grow in bunches like potatoes.

Some of them are oblong--the length of a man's arm--and more than twenty
pounds in weight. When required for use, the bark is scraped off, and
they are grated down. They are then put into the tipiti, already
mentioned; and the bag is hung up to a strong pin, while the lever is
passed through the loop at the bottom. Its short end goes under a firm
notch, and then some one usually sits upon the long end until the pulp
is squeezed sufficiently dry. The bag is so formed that its extension,
by the force of the lever, causes its sides to close upon the pulp, and
thus press out the juice. The pulp is next dried in an oven, and becomes
the famous "cassava" or "farinha," which, throughout the greater part of
South America, is the only bread that is used. The juice, of course,
runs through the wicker-work of the _tipiti_ into a vessel below, and
there produces a sediment, which is the well-known "tapioca."

There are two kinds of the yucca or manioc-root,--the _yucca dulce_, and
_yucca amarga_--the sweet and bitter. One may be eaten raw without
danger. The other, which very closely resembles it, if eaten raw, wou