A TROPICAL RAILWAY STATION.
"That is one of the staples of Brazil," said Dr. Bronson, "and it figures in her exports in the shape of tapioca. Mandioca is as necessary to the native of Brazil as the potato to the Irishman, or beef to the Englishman; mandioca flour, in this country, fills the place occupied by wheat flour or corn meal among ourselves."
They had repeatedly seen mandioca growing in patches near the villages, and in their journey down the Madeira and Amazon they had found it an excellent article of food. Ascertaining that the train would be nearly half an hour at the station, they strolled over to the little garden and learned how mandioca is cultivated.
MANDIOCA PLANT.
"The plant has several names," said the Doctor, as they were walking to the garden; "the one most generally used is mandioca, but it is also called manioc, mandioc, yucca, and cassava, while its scientific appellation is Jatropha manihot. It is a native of South America, but has been introduced into Africa and other tropical countries, where it is extensively cultivated. There are two kinds of the plant; one is called the sweet cassava or sweet yucca, and its roots are eaten raw, but are more commonly roasted or boiled, and they are as nutritions as their South American brother, the potato. The other, which produces the tapioca of commerce and the mandioca flour of South America, contains a poison so deadly that thirty-five drops of it were sufficient to kill in six minutes a negro convicted of murder."