352
Martinique
Sketches.
poured into a plate, with a little water and stirred with a spoon into a thick paste or mush,—the thicker the bett e r ; — d l e a u passé farine (more water than manioc flour) is a saying which describes the condition of a very destitute person. When not served with fish, the flour is occasionally mixed with water and refined molasses (sirop-battrié) : this preparation, which is very nice, is called cousscaye. There is also a way of boiling it with molasses and milk into a kind of pudding. This is called matêté ; children are very fond of it. Both of these names, cousscaye and matêté, are alleged to be of Carib origin : the art of preparing the flour itself from manioc root is certainly an inheritance from the Caribs, who bequeathed many singular words to the Creole patois of the French West Indies. Of all the preparations of codfish with which manioc flour is eaten, I preferred the lamori- bouilli,—the fish boiled plain, after having been steeped long enough to remove the excess of salt ; and then served with plenty of olive-oil and pimento. T h e people who have no home of their own, or at least no place to cook, can buy their food already prepared from the màchannes lapacotte, who seem to make a specialty of macadam (codfish stewed with rice) and the other two dishes already referred to. But in every colored family there are occasional feasts of lamori-au-laitt, codfish stewed with milk and potatoes ; lamori - au - grattin, codfish boned, pounded with toast crumbs, and boiled with butter, onions, and pepper into a mush; — coubouyon-lamori, codfish stewed with butter and oil; — bachamelle, codfish boned and stewed with potatoes, pimentos, oil, garlic, and butter. Pimento is an essential accompaniment to all these dishes, whether it be cooked or raw : everything is served with plenty of pimento,—en pile, en pile piment. Among part m a n i o c flour to three of wheat flour. T h e result was excellent ; but n o serious effort was ever m a d e to put the m a n i o c b r e a d o n the market.