The Sweet
Or Non-Poisonous Manioc I Have Rarely Seen Cultivated, Because It
Gives A Much Smaller Yield, And Is
Much longer coming to perfection.
The poisonous kind is that in general use; its great dahlia-like
roots are soaked
In water to remove the poisonous principle, and
then dried and grated up, or more commonly beaten up into a kind of
dough in a wooden trough that looks like a model canoe, with wooden
clubs, which I have seen the curiosity hunter happily taking home as
war clubs to alarm his family with. The thump, thump, thump of this
manioc beating is one of the most familiar sounds in a bush village.
The meal, when beaten up, is used for thickening broths, and rolled
up into bolsters about a foot long and two inches in diameter, and
then wrapped in plantain leaves, and tied round with tie-tie and
boiled, or more properly speaking steamed, for a lot of the rolls
are arranged in a brass skillet. A small quantity of water is
poured over the rolls of plantain, a plantain leaf is tucked in over
the top tightly, so as to prevent the steam from escaping, and the
whole affair is poised on the three cooking-stones over a wood fire,
and left there until the contents are done, or more properly
speaking, until the lady in charge of it has delusions on the point,
and the bottom rolls are a trifle burnt or the whole insufficiently
cooked.
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