But he did not seem to have explained how the plant might be reproduced.
The Indians searched for seeds, but found none.
They buried the young tuberous roots, but to no effect.
The Good Spirit was vexed with them; that is why he did not divulge the secret.
But long, long after, a virgin of the tribe, a daughter of the chief, was found to be with child.
When questioned she replied that long, long ago, when sick to death, and under the medicine-man’s magic,[379] she wandered far, far into the bush.
In the bush she found a beautiful manioc plant.
She was seduced by the tuberous root—some Indians say the plant was metamorphosed into a beautiful young hunter—and in due course she gave birth to a girl-child, who could both talk and walk at birth.
This child took the women of the tribe to a beautiful plantation of manioc, far, far up a certain river, and there the precocious infant explained how to reproduce the plant with bits of the stalks.