52 COFFEE, AND OTHER PRODUCTIONS. [1838. 



advantageous. A liquor is obtained, by either mode, which 

 is churned or agitated .till the dye begins to granulate ; the 

 flakes are then permitted to settle, the remaining liquor is 

 drawn off. and the indigo is drained in bags, and dried in 

 boxes. 



One of the chief staples of Brazil is obtained from the 

 coffee-bush. This shrub, In its natural state, rises to the 

 height of fifteen or twenty feet, but, when cultivated, it is 

 kept down by pruning, to five or six feet, for the greater con- 

 venience thus afforded of gathering the fruit. The main 

 stem is upright, and has a light brown bark ; the branches 

 shoot out horizontally and opposite, crossing each other at 

 every joint, and forming a sort of pyramid ; the flowers, 

 which are of a pure white color, like those of the Spanish 

 jasmine, grow in clusters, at the roots of the leaves, along 

 the branches. The flowers soon fade, and are replaced by a 

 fruit resembling a cherry, which contains a yellow glairy 

 fluid enveloping two seeds or coffee berries. The seeds are 

 glued together, and each is surrounded by a peculiar coria- 

 ceous membrane. All along the Atlantic coast of Brazil, 

 there are extensive plantations of coffee, the culture of which 

 is said to be highly profitable. When the cherry-looking fruit 

 assumes a deep red color, it is gathered, and passed between 

 two wooden revolving rollers, and a third fixed one, from 

 which it falls upon a sieve that separates the pulp from the 

 beans. The latter are then steeped for a night in water, 

 carefully washed in the morning, and afterwards dried in the 

 sun. They are now detached from the coriaceous husk sur- 

 rounding them, by a wooden edge wheel turned vertically by 

 a horse or mule, and the membranes are subsequently sepa- 

 rated from the berries by a winnowing machine. The final 

 process consists in spreading the coffee upon mats or tables, 

 picking it clean, and packing in bags. 



Sugar cane grows thriftily in the low grounds and interval 

 lands, and all the tropical fruits are also produced ; in the 

 interior, on the more elevated localities, where the vegetation 

 begins to creep up the sides of the mountains, the shrubs 





