some time in the sun to take away their noxious qualities; though some oxen from habit have been known to eat the roots quite fresh without the least injury. Koster relates* that he had one of these animals which was so attached to the mandioc that he would escape at night from his stall and tare up the plants with such dexterity that it was only from the marks of the feet that the thief could be discovered. Yet it is singular, that although it has this attractive quality, its juice, while pressing from the root in making the farinha, has produced fatal effects. An instance of this given by the same traveller, in the case of a sheep, which, in attempting to get some of the roots, had taken a very small quantity of the liquid, the deleterious qualities of which operated in a few seconds. The animal tottered, fell, rose, and fell again; and, although oil was administered, its body swelled to an The enormous size, and it died in about ten minutes afterwards. farinha of the mandioc is prepared much in the same way as that of the Cassada in the West Indies and Mauritius. The roots are scraped and then ground into a receiver, forming a pulp, which is afterwards enclosed in long bags made of bark or reeds, and then hung up to permit the juice to ooze from the material. The pulp, when thus drained, is put on a pan either of copper or burned clay, to be dried, during which operation it is kept constantly stirred to prevent burning and to detach the mass into mealy particles.

The majority of the people use the mandioca, not merely as a substitute for flour, but even in preference. It yields two crops in the year, and is prepared by boiling and expressing the juice, which is poisonous; the sediment which remains after pouring off the water, is the tapioca of the shops.

Patagonia is a region cold and inhospitable, consisting for the most part of open deserts and savannas, yielding nothing but a few willows on the rivers, without a single tree or shrub adapted for any mechanical purposes. Cayenne or French Guiana, celebrated for its pepper, (capsicum armuum) affords little interest, though sugar, maize, cassia, Indian corn, and several kinds of fruits are there to be found. Amazonia being little known and still uncivilized, nothing can be said of it, except that it produces corn, grain, all kinds of tropical fruits, and great quantities of wild honey, but to what purpose or advantage these are converted remains yet to be ascertained.

Surinam, though fertile in general, is intersected by deep marshes, or swamps, and extensive heaths, and the uncultivated parts are covered with forests, rocks, and mountains. Sugar and other vegetable productions are to be found, among which the quassia tree, or bitter

* Koster's Travels in Brazil, vol. ii. p. 175.

drug, well known by the porter brewers, grows wild in the woods, and was first exposed for sale by a native called Quas, from whom it derives its appellation. The sugar plantations are numerous along the banks of the Surinam and Marivine. The city of Parimaribo, the capital, is beautifully diversified with orange and lemon trees, and fruits hanging in all directions in the utmost profusion. The whole resembles an immense garden, affording to the passenger a most grateful perfume and a refreshing shade. Rum and sugar are manufactured in this settlement which give an impulse and interest to the speculation of the inhabitants. On the coast of Surinam, the Indians have various sorts of inebriating liquors, among these the juice of the conmoo fruit is the most esteemed. The conmoo tree is one of the smallest of the palm species; the berries grow in bunches of a purple colour, resembling grapes, and from a solution of them in boiling water, mixed with cinnamon and sugar, an agreeable drink is obtained, having the flavour of chocolate. From Cassava bread, the females make a drink, termed piworree, similar to that bearing the same name in Demerara and Barbadoes. This bread is chewed and fermented, and the taste of the liquor which it produces has a strong resemblance to ale. Piworree, or Pywarree, is also made by the females chewing the cassava flower and spitting it into a wooden trough. This matter, by the addition of water, soon runs into fermentation and yields the desired beverage. When a sufficient quantity is produced, a feast ensues, and the parties drink so freely that they roll on the ground in a complete state of intoxication, while the revelry is frequently kept up for several days. Piworree, however, is a harmless species of exhilarating drink, as it leaves no bad effects; for, after a sound sleep, the votary is perfectly restored to his wonted health and vigour.

From maize or Indian corn, a drink is manufactured by maceration, and which is called chiacoar. The grain is first baked into bread, and after being crumbled and macerated with water, it is duly fermented and produces the liquor just mentioned. They make another drink from yams, cassava, sour oranges and sugar, or treacle mixed, macerated and fermented with water. This drink is much used by the Indians, but rum is the favorite beverage. Palm wine is in abundance, and generally procured from the fallen trunk of the tree by making incisions about a foot square in which the juice is collected, and after a short exposure to the sun, it ferments and yields an intoxicating wine.*

Here the vine (vitis campestris) grows in abundance without cultivation. The grapes are large and of various colours, having a rich, • Stedman's Surinam, vol. i. p. 392; vol. ii. p. 115.

sweet juice. The Indians gather them and prepare them for keeping by first sweating them on hurdles over a gentle fire, then drying them in the sun, and afterwards storing them for provisions. These vines are more of a creeping than of a climbing nature, extending their branches horizontally to a considerable distance, and the pending fruit almost touching the ground.

When Ferdinand de Soto invaded the Floridas in the middle of the sixteenth century, the inhabitants were familiar with the use of the maguey, and had even converted it into conserves. Ponce de Leon, an adventurer of a romantic and chivalrous spirit, was the first of the many enthusiasts led to this region under the imaginary delusion that in Florida there existed a fountain which had the power of restoring youth and giving immortality to those who should drink of it ;—a notion quite in accordance with the superstition of the times and the visionary pursuits of the alchymists of the age. No such fountain, however, was discovered, many of those who attempted to find it, never returned; hence it was inferred by the votaries of the day, that those persons had drunk of the immortalizing liquor, and had discovered a spot too delightful to be abandoned through any worldly or human consideration. That they had inebriating drinks is certain; but it was beyond the range of intellect of the poor Indian to ever think of a liquor that could render him immortal. Their inventions never went further than the making of liquors from indigenous fruit and grain. An acquaintance with the Spaniards, however, soon familiarized them with European luxuries, and imparted a taste for all exhilarating drinks. In the course of time, this inclination became so insuperable that the Spanish government, always having a view to its own aggrandisement, encouraged distillation, and in the Floridas as well as in the neighbouring districts, drew from it a considerable revenue. But the manufacture at best was inconsiderable when compared with the overflowing fertility of the country— a country deriving its name from the very appearance of the efflorescence of its groves, hills, and valleys. And where nature is thus bountiful, to what advantages, under a liberal government, might not her gifts be turned. Nothing remarkable is recounted as peculiar to the natives different from those of the surrounding nations; their feasts, entertainments, and ceremonies being characterized by the same uniformity that marks other American tribes, in a similar state of uncultivated nature. Bartram, in his Travels,* describes an assembly of natives which he witnessed at Attasse, exhibiting a striking picture

Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, &c. 8vo. pp. 449, 50, 51. Also Adair's History of the American Indians.

of the aboriginal Floridans. During the ceremony, two slaves entered the place of entertainment, carrying a couple of very large conch-shells full of a sort of black beer. After various evolutions and movements, each presented his shell, one to the king, and the other to the next in rank, uttering two notes extended as long as he could without breathing, during which time from the king to the meanest individual at the ceremony, each continued drinking. These two notes are of such long and solemn duration that a spectator is struck with the awe which they inspire, sounding somewhat like a-hoo-ojah and a-lu-jah, and resembling the hallelujah of a Christian assembly. This ceremonious mode of drinking is continued as long as any of the liquor remains. At the close of the autumn, the savages hold a solemn fast in honour of the first fruits, or new crops having arrived at maturity. To render this the more dignified, they renew their clothing, household furniture, and cast away not only the old materials of this description, but even the remaining grain, as well as the old provisions. These are usually gathered into a heap and burned. To render the ceremony still more imposing, they fast for three days, take medicine, and put out all the fires in their villages, abstaining from the gratification of every appetite and passion. At this period, a general amnesty is proclaimed, and even the captive is suffered to return unmolested and rejoicing to his home. On the morning of the fourth day, the sun illumines a scene of a very different description. Intoxicating beverages flowing in torrents, are accompanied for three days. by all the concomitant excesses which undue indulgence in every gratification produces.

From a close observance of the manners and customs of the inhabitants of the New World, and contrasting them with those of the Old, a striking similarity in some instances appears. An attempt to account for this would be foreign to the design of this work; but it may not be irrelevant to observe, that many are of opinion that the American continent was peopled by adventurers from Africa, Asia, or Europe. A very plausible conjecture is, that the posterity of Japhet diverged eastward and westward throughout the whole extent of Asia, so that those who arrived at the Pacific Ocean may have passed to America by the way of Beering's Straits. Those who came to the Atlantic shores may have crossed to this continent in the direction of Newfoundland; and others coasting along Africa may have been driven to Brazil or the West India islands by chance, through severity of weather or a deficiency in the knowledge of navigation. The description given by the Mexicans of their forefathers, is a proof of this hypothesis, since they are described as having come

Y

from the north-west, and agreeing in their characteristics with the Asiatic wandering Tartars. This opinion is strengthened by the recent discoveries of Baron Humboldt and other scientific men; and it is almost certain that America was known to the Phoenicians. Count Roehenstart, the Russian traveller, during his residence at Mexico, writing to the Count De Legarde, says, that "guided by the learned observations of the Baron," he was enabled to procure sepulchral monuments of these people, which prove beyond a doubt the 'fact of this matter. It is, however, to be regretted, that when the Count was on his passage to Europe, these precious fragments of antiquity, with a rare collection of natural and artificial curiosities, were thrown overboard by a band of pirates who attacked and 'plundered the vessel.

Portuguese writers allege that when they discovered in Tercera, one of the Azore islands, an equestrian statue, made from a slab of stone, was found, bearing an inscription on a rock beneath. The head of the man was bare, his left hand rested on the mane of his horse, and his right hand pointed towards the west, as indicating the situation of another continent. If this be true, it evidently goes to prove that the New World must have been known to the inhabitants of the Old.

As it is well authenticated by Pliny and others, that the Phoenicians frequently made voyages through the Red Sea, doubling the Cape of Good Hope, and coming home by the Straits of Gibralter, there is no improbability of one of these vessels having been driven westward and having arrived at last in America. One of these vessels, it is said, was driven to an island very far west, (perhaps the same as Plato's Atlantis) larger than Asia and Africa together, having a fruitful soil and navigable rivers; and that through the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians came to the knowledge of it, in which new region, says Diodorus Siculus, the Carthaginians would not permit any other nation to settle, but reserved it for themselves, that if ever they should be driven from their native soil, they might have an asyalm. Ælian says, Silenus asserted that there was an extensive continent beyond Europe, Asia, and Africa, from which it has been inferred that the inhabitants of the Old World had some faint knowledge of the New. Another circumstance, which gives additional strength to this reasoning, is, that Professor Seyffarth, of Leipsic, in 1827, found among the learned and curious repositories at Rome, a Mexican manuscript in hieroglyphics, marked with the Mexican zodiac, from which it was

Pliny's Nat. Hist. L. ii. s. 67.