A family of Indians was seen crossing the river in their log canoe, and
disappearing under the bushes on the opposite side; my companion and
myself paddled after them, and we landed under some locust trees, and
found an Indian settlement. The logies were sheds, open all round, and
covered with the leaves of the trooly-palm, some of them twenty-four
feet long; and suspended from the bamboo timbers of the roof were
hammocks of net-work, in which the men were lazily swinging. One or two
of those who were awake were fashioning arrow-heads out of hard wood.
The men and children were entirely naked, with the exception of the blue
_lap_ or cloth for the loins; the women in their blue petticoat and
braided hair were scraping the root of the cassava tree into a trough of
bark; it was then put into a long press of matting, which expresses the
poisonous juice; the dry farina is finally baked on an iron plate. The
old women were weaving the square coëoo or _lap_ of beads, which
they sometimes wear without a petticoat; also armlets and ankle
ornaments of beads. Some were fabricating earthen pots, and all the
females seemed actively employed. They offered us a red liquor, called
_caseeree_, prepared from the sweet potato; also _piwarry_,
the intoxicating beverage made by chewing the cassava, and allowing it
to ferment. At their _piwarry_ feasts the Indians prepare a small
canoe full of this liquor, beside which the entertainers and their
guests roll together drunk for two or three days. Their helpmates look
after them, and keep them from being suffocated with the sand getting
into their mouths: but _piwarry_ is a harmless liquor, that is to
say, it does not produce the disease and baneful effects of spirits, for
after a sleep the Indians rise fresh and well, and only occasionally
indulge in a debauch of this kind. Fish, which the men had shot with
their arrows, and birds, were brought out of the canoe, and barbacoted
or smoke-dried on a grating of bamboos over a fire; and we followed an