The manioc, from which the cassada is made, was a great article of food among the Caribs. The ordinary size of the roots is equal to that of the beet; they are of the consistency of parsnips, and commonly ripen in about eight months.
The manioc was planted in trenches, about two feet and a half apart, and six inches deep. It was necessary to keep the plant free from weeds. When ripe, the shrub and roots were all dug up together, like potatoes. When the roots were taken up, the bark or skin was scraped off, just as parsnips are scraped; then they were washed clean and grated fine, something like horseradish. Then the grated mass was put into a strainer of split flags, or the bark of a tree.
The strainer was six or seven feet long, and four or five inches in diameter. It was woven something like a cotton stocking, in order that it might be expanded to receive the manioc, and contract for the purpose of expressing the juice. When filled, it was hung on the limb of a tree, with a basket of stones fastened to the bottom, which gradually forced out the juice of the manioc, which is of a poisonous quality unless it is boiled.
Caribs preparing Manioc.
When the manioc was sufficiently dry, they took daily what they wanted, and having passed the flour through a sieve made of reeds, they then made it into paste, and baked it upon flat stones. It is a very nourishing kind of bread, and is to this day used in many parts of tropical America.
The Caribs had discovered the art of making intoxicating beverages, so that they really needed a temperance society,—not quite so much, perhaps, as their civilized invaders. In this respect the Caribs had far outstripped the inventions of the northern barbarians.
Carib Vessels.
No people in the world were more expert than the Caribs in the management of a boat. They had two sorts of vessels—becassas, with three masts and square sails, and piroques, with only two masts. The last were about thirty feet long by four and a half feet wide in the middle. The becassa was about forty-two feet long and seven feet wide in the middle. They had sometimes figures of monkeys painted red at the stern of their vessels. These vessels were built of the West India cedar tree, which there grows to a prodigious size. One tree made the keel of the vessel. It was felled with immense labor, hewed to a proper degree of thickness, made very smooth, and if any addition to the height was necessary, planks were added to the sides. This work was all performed with sharp hatchets made of flint.