CASSAVA.

275

screws, and is bent to any desired curve by shifting the screws: the edge of the slide-restswhich holds the piece of wood about to be cut, runs against the long guide bar, and ofconsequence is conducted in a corresponding curved course. The circular saw receivesa rapid rotatory motion by means of a band or rigger from any first mover; and the pieceof wood may be shifted laterally by means of racks and pinions on the side-rest, by theWorkman turning a handle, which is occasionally necessary in order to bring the pieceof wood up to, or away from, the saw.

The necessary number of slaves being provided, they are then set round within aconfining hoop at bottom, and brought into the form of a cask in the usual way, and“faced by temporary hoops. The barrel part of the cask being thus prepared, in orderlo effect the chining, it is placed in a frame upon a platform, which is raised up by atreddle lever, that the end of the barrel may meet the cutters in a sort of lathe above : therutiers are then made to traverse round within the head of the barrel, and, as they pro-ce ed, occasionally to expand, by which means the bevels and grooves are cut on thett Pper edge of the barrel, which is called chining. The barrel being now reversed, thesa me apparatus is brought to act against the other end, which becomes chined in like®anner.

fhe pieces of wood intended to form the heads of the cask are now to be cut straightIlf a “rcilar saw in a machine, similar to the first described ; but in the present instancej' e slide-rest is to move forward in a straight course. After their straight edges are.“Us produced, they are to be placed side by side, and confined, when a scribing cutterf? m ade to traverse round, and cut the pieces collectively into the circular form desiredor beading the cask.

fhe cask having now been made up, and headed by hand as usual, it is placed betweene *tres, or upon an axle in a machine, and turned round by a rigger or band with aJ avln o cutter, sliding along a bar above it, which cutter, being made to advance andp“ e as it slides along, shaves the outer part of the cask to a smooth surface.0 jVf“"AVA. Cassava bread , conaque, fyc., are different names given to the starchj n root of the Manioc (Jatropha Manihot, Linn.), prepared in the following mannertre n ^ est ladies, the tropical regions of America , and upon the African coast. The“belongs to the natural family of the euphorbiacece.is n ^°° ts are washed, and reduced to a pulp by means of a rasp or grater. The pulpp r{ ? ut into coarse strong canvass bags, and thus submitted to the action of a powerfultjj e , 5 by which it parts with most of its noxious juice (used by the Indians for poisoningiJi s ■ ar bs of their arrows.) As the active principle of this juice is volatile, it is easilyof th ^ baking the squeezed cakes of pulp upon a plate of hot iron. Fifty poundssessi jresh juice, when distilled, afford, at first, three ounces of a poisonous water, pos-copvj ^ j 11 * nt °lerably offensive smell; of which, 35 drops being administered to a slavehon-tki '“ the crime of poisoning, caused his death in the course of six minutes, amid

The convul ?ions.*

hard a in the manner above described concretes into lumps, which become

to d r “ triable as they cool. They are then broken into pieces, and laid out in the sunby tn this state they afford a wholesome nutriment, and are habitually used as suchvisi ons as also by many white people. These cakes constitute the only pro-

a little h* 1 r n ^ the natives, in their voyages upon the Amazons . Boiled in water withThe c or ttttttton they form a kind of soup similar to that of rice,almost ass . a ' r a cakes sent to Europe (which I have eaten with pleasure) are composedPhrified °i" starc h) along with a few fibres of the ligneous matter. It may be

“loth, eva^ a ^. us ' on through warm water, passing the milky mixture through a linen‘lissolved ?° rat ' n S the strained liquid over the fire, with constant agitation. The starch?ranul a t e( ^ 'he heat, thickens as the water evaporates, but on being stirred, it becomes'bat of .k ’ aaa must be finally dried in a proper stove. Its specific gravity is 1-530 —

. T he proCr ° f starch -

^ i0ca ; and b ob!amei l by this treatment is known in commerce under the name of ta-aas y digestion Stai A h V6ry nearl y P ure > is often prescribed by physicians as an aliment' 'Ting potato i? 11, k to l. era bly good imitation of it is made by heating, stirring, and■ The expressed ‘ ln & s ' m 'l ar way.

11 beposites slow! JU1Ce tlle 1001 °f man i° c contains in suspension avery fine fecula, which'’“rnatant linunr^ U P 01 ?; l h e bottom of the vessels. When freed by decantation from the su-o lea ks on pressm™* 1 •u severa l times and dried, it forms a beautiful starch, which-mployed f 01 . “ W'th the fingers. It,is called cipipa, in French Guyana ; it is

a £ching linen, & c 6 1CalC ar 'i c ' es °f cookery, especially pastry, as also for hair powder,

’ as imported, may be distinguished from arrow-root and other kinds

* \r

er uie n '°* r ^ r * Fermin

pon juice 0 f ■^- ca< * em J r Berlin concerning experiments made at Cay-