How they concoct their drinks and make themselves drunk therewith, and the manner of their drinking.

THE women prepare the drinks.75 They take the mandioca root and boil it in great pots. Afterwards they pour it into other vessels and allow it to cool a little. Then young girls sit round and chew the boiled root in their mouths, and what is chewed they set apart in a special vessel. When the boiled root is all chewed, they place it back again in the pot which they fill with water, mixing the water with the chewed root, after which they heat it again.