Note 174 — Chapter XVII

Mr. Southey says, “When the mandioc failed, what was called stick flour (in Portugueze farinha de pao) was made from the wood of the Urucuri-iba, which they cut in pieces and bruised; and this being less liable to corrupt than the mandioc, is now generally used in the Brazilian ships.” vol. i. p. 233. The farinha de pao which is at present used in these ships, is made from the mandioc, and the name of stick-flour is by no means inapposite; for it always requires to be picked before it is used, to take out the bits of the husk and of the hardened fibres of the root which may chance to remain. But the name may have, and most probably did, commence with the stick-flour of the Urucuri-iba; and when the substance from which it was made was changed, the name still continued. I refer the reader to the History of Brazil for a farther account of the mandioc.