Besides, as I told them there
were three kinds of manioc, of which one contained more poison than the
rest, I thought it prudent to try whether we had perfectly extracted it,
by giving a small quantity to our fowls. As soon, therefore, as the cake
was cold, I gave some to two chickens, which I kept apart; and also some
to Master Knips, the monkey, that he might, for the first time, do us a
little service. He ate it with so much relish, and such grimaces of
enjoyment, that my young party were quite anxious to share his feast;
but I ordered them to wait till we could judge of the effect, and,
leaving our employment, we went to our dinner of potatoes, to which my
wife had added one of the penguins, which was truly rather tough and
fishy; but as Jack would not allow this, and declared it was a dish fit
for a king, we allowed him to regale on it as much as he liked. During
dinner, I talked to them of the various preparations made from the
manioc; I told my wife we could obtain an excellent starch from the
expressed juice; but this did not interest her much, as at present she
usually wore the dress of a sailor, for convenience, and had neither
caps nor collars to starch.
The cake made from the root is called by the natives of the Antilles
_cassava_, and in no savage nation do we find any word signifying
_bread_; an article of food unknown to them.
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