The Wood Is A Good Fuel,
And Yields A Large Quantity Of Potash.
If planted in a dry soil,
it takes two years to come to perfection, requiring, during that time,
one weeding only.
It bears drought well, and never shrivels up,
like other plants, when deprived of rain. When planted in low alluvial soils,
and either well supplied with rain or annually flooded,
twelve, or even ten months, are sufficient to bring it to maturity.
The root rasped while raw, placed upon a cloth, and rubbed with the hands
while water is poured upon it, parts with its starchy glutinous matter,
and this, when it settles at the bottom of the vessel, and the water
poured off, is placed in the sun till nearly dry, to form tapioca.
The process of drying is completed on an iron plate over a slow fire,
the mass being stirred meanwhile with a stick, and when quite dry
it appears agglutinated into little globules, and is in the form
we see the tapioca of commerce. This is never eaten by weevils,
and so little labor is required in its cultivation that on the spot
it is extremely cheap. Throughout the interior parts of Angola,
fine manioc meal, which could with ease have been converted either into
superior starch or tapioca, is commonly sold at the rate of about ten pounds
for a penny. All this region, however, has no means of transport to Loanda
other than the shoulders of the carriers and slaves over a footpath.
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