120 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
of whom are house-servants ; it includes within its own 
borders all that would be required by such a population 
in the way of supplies : it has its drug-shop and its 
hospital ; its kitchens for the service of the guests and 
for that of the numerous indoor servants, its church, its 
priest, and its doctor. Here the church was made by 
throwing open a small oratory, very handsomely fitted 
up with gold and silver service, purple altar-cloth, <fcc., 
at the end of a very long room, which, though used for 
other purposes, serves on such an occasion to collect the 
large household together. The next morning our hostess 
showed us the different working-rooms. One of the most 
interesting was that where the children were taught to 
sew. I have wondered, on our Southern plantations, that 
more pains was not taken to make clever seamstresses 
of the women. Here plain sewing is taught to all the 
little .girls, and many of them are quite expert in em- 
broidery and lace-making. Beyond this room was a store- 
room for clothing, looking not unlike one of our sanitary 
rooms, with heaps of woollen and cotton stuffs which the 
black women were cutting out and making up for the field 
hands. The kitchens, with the working and lodging rooms of 
the house negroes, enclosed a court planted with trees and 
shrubs, around which extended covered brick walks where 
blacks, young and old, seemed to swarm, from the withered 
woman who boasted herself a hundred, but was still proud to 
display her fine lace-work, and ran like a girl, to show us 
how sprightly she was, to the naked baby creeping at her 
feet. The old woman had received her liberty some time 
ago, but seemed to be very much attached to the family 
and never to have thought of leaving them. These are the 
things which make one hopeful about slavery in Brazil ; 
