e coffee-plantations, warehouses, etc.; and I willingly
accepted her offer, as affording me an opportunity of viewing the
manner in which the coffee was prepared, from beginning to end.

The mode of gathering it I have already described. When this is
done, the coffee is spread out upon large plots of ground, trodden
down in a peculiar manner, and enclosed by low stone walls, scarcely
a foot high, with little drain-holes in them, to allow of the water
running off in case of rain. On these places the coffee is dried by
the glowing heat of the sun, and then shaken in large stone mortars,
ten or twenty of which are placed beneath a wooden scaffolding, from
which wooden hammers, set in motion by water power, descend into the
mortars, and easily crush the husks. The mass, thus crushed, is
then placed in wooden boxes, fastened in the middle of a long table,
and having small openings at each side, through which both the berry
itself and the husk fall slowly out. At the table are seated
negroes, who separate the berry from the husk, and then cast it into
shallow copper cauldrons, which are easily heated. In these it is
carefully turned, and remains until it is quite dried. This last
process requires some degree of care, as the colour of the coffee
depends upon the degree of heat to which it is exposed; if dried too
quickly, instead of the usual greenish colour, it contracts a
yellowish tinge.

On the whole, the preparation of coffee is not fatiguing, and even
the gathering of it is far from being as laborious as reaping is
with us. The negro stands in an upright posture when gathering the
berry, and is protected by the tree itself against the great heat of
the sun. The only danger he incurs is of being bitten by some
venomous snake or other--an accident, however, which, fortunately,
rarely happens.

The work on a sugar-plantation, on the contrary, is said to be
exceedingly laborious, particularly that portion of it which relates
to weeding the ground and cutting the cane. I have never yet
witnessed a sugar-harvest, but, perhaps, may do so in the course of
my travels.

All work ceases at sunset, when the negroes are drawn up in front of
their master's house for the purpose of being counted, and then,
after a short prayer, have their supper, consisting of boiled beans,
bacon, carna secca, and manioc flour, handed out to them.

At sunrise, they again assemble, are once more counted, and, after
prayers and breakfast,