In the preparation of the mazata, the favourite beverage of these Indians, the yuca is peeled and boiled in but little water in one of their large pots, after which it is smashed to paste by means of a club. This process concluded, the next step is to take out a proper proportion of this mass and mix it with saliva, in the same manner as the Incas do with their scalded maize. The yuca thus prepared is then well mixed with the other, the pot is carefully covered, and the preparation is left to ferment several days, when it is ready for consumption. This mazata does not differ much in taste from the maize-mazata of the Incas.
The civilised inhabitants of this region prepare this beverage in a less repugnant and more hygienic way—that is, they add to the paste sugar-cane juice or the juice of a ripe plantain, in place of the saliva.
In preparing the fariña, the yuca is thrown into a trough filled with water and left there until it is in a state of semi-putrefaction, when it is taken out, peeled, and pulverised. If it is the cultivated variety, it is then dried and put through a roasting process upon hot plates, but if it is the yuca brava, the poisonous sap must first be removed. To do this, the yuca, already pulverised, is wrapped up in a good-sized piece of llanchama—the tough, inner bark of a tree of the same name—which is then twisted up and tightened with a stick, after the fashion of a tourniquet, until the sap is all pressed out and evaporated. It is then dried and roasted in the same way as the other yuca.
This fariña can be preserved for a long time if kept dry, and it forms one of the chief articles of food of many of the inhabitants of the Amazon, especially when they are travelling. It is eaten either dry with water or, best of all, with milk and sugar, when it becomes an agreeable, as well as a wholesome, article of food.
The Cionis are very skilful in the manufacture of the light, durable, and beautiful hammocks, which they use in place of beds, from the strong fibres of the leaves of the cambira-palm. They often spend months upon the fabrication of a single hammock, first collecting the leaves, next extracting the fibres, then twisting them into long strings, and finally weaving the strings into a hammock. One of these hammocks can be rolled up until it occupies only the space of a fair-sized book, and it is so durable that it will last for years.
They also exhibit marvellous patience and skill in making the insect, feather, and shell ornaments that they wear on their feast-days. One especially interesting ornament is the yacta, a beautiful crown, composed of a great variety of fine large red and yellow plumes, inlaid with so many small feathers of so many different kinds and colours that it is a veritable work of art.
Another common ornament is a long string of brilliantly coloured feathers, which is worn around the neck. They also collect the bright green wings of a large insect, very common in these parts, of which, after a sufficient supply has been obtained, they make a similar string, which also encircles the neck. In addition to all these, which are worn only on special occasions, they generally have several bracelets, anklets, &c., of gaily coloured woollen yarns or locks of hair.
At their dances, the music of which is furnished by drums, whistles, and fifes of their own manufacture, they always wear a quantity of cascabeles, which are nothing more than strings of the dried fruits of the schacapa[71]. These cascabeles they attach to their legs and waist in such a manner as to produce a rattling, tinkling noise at every step they take.
Other very interesting products of the industry of these aborigines are the fine combs, made of carefully arranged and polished thorns, tied together with eccentrically coloured threads. Some of these combs are really splendid pieces of workmanship.
A thorough and extensive knowledge of the uses and properties of the countless products of the forest is also possessed by the Cionis. Thus, for example, the root of a certain bejuco[72], which they call yoco, is their substitute for coffee; from another bejuco they extract a narcotic known to them as ayahuasca or yajén, the effects of which are similar to those of hasheesh and opium; the leaves of the huitoc or jagua[73] are used to cure itching and all erysipelatic diseases, as well as to protect them from the gnats and mosquitoes; and thousands of other trees, shrubs, and bejucos supply them with almost everything they need or desire.