USES TO WHICH [Chap. 



flour of these behig so adhesive, the cake becomes 

 so hard that it can be ground by scarcely any 

 teeth that are to be found in the head of man. 

 The corn-flour and the corn-meal, the latter still 

 more than the former, make the cake light and 

 somewhat spongy; and, these cakes supply the 

 place of bread even by the choice of the consumers, 

 in instances innumerable; and it is contended by 

 many persons, and is, I believe, the general opinion 

 in America, that they are better for the health, 

 than bread that has been fermented. At any 

 rate, hundreds of thousands prefer this kind of 

 bread ; and, though it is attended with a little 

 more trouble than the making of puddings, it is 

 more convenient for carrying into the field c.x on 

 a journey ; and will, for these reasons, be fre- 

 quently preferred. The people in Lanca'jhire, 

 have not this cake-making to learn. They have 

 iio oven, I mean the poorer sort ; hut they make 

 calces of oatmeal, which they put into a frying- 

 pan, or upon a smooth piece of iron, which they 

 put over their fire. These cakes are seen in the 

 houses of those who are, comparatively, well off. 

 They are served at the tables of inns, in company 

 with bread ; and many persons take the former in 

 preference. These cakes appeared to me to be 

 about the thickness of, and not very different in qua- 

 lity from, that large piece of leather which a coal 

 carter has hanging down from his poll to protect 



