VOL. XXVIII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 51 



and yards, or on the side of the highway, and work those fine stuffs that are so 

 highly esteemed over all the world. 



They have here no need of wine to make aqua vitae ; but make it of a syrup, 

 sugar, some certain sorts of barks, and raisins; it burns better, and is stronger 

 than that made in Europe. They paint flowers, and gild very finely on glass. 

 I was surprised to see their vessels, which they use to cool water in, which are 

 not thicker than two leaves of paper pasted together. Their watermen row 

 after a different manner from ours: they move the oar with their feet, and their 

 hands serve instead of the hypomochlion, or roller on which it turns. The 

 liquor which their painters use does not any way lose its colour, nor is it 

 tarnished by lee. 



The husbandmen in Europe prick their oxen with a goad, to make them go 

 faster ; but here they only twist or wring their tails. These beasts are very 

 docile : they teach them to lie down, and rise up, when they take up or lay 

 down their burdens. They make use of a kind of hand mill to break their 

 sugar canes, which does not cost them above the value of lOd. The per- 

 son that grinds, works and fashions the stone himself with lac and emery. 



Their masons will pave the largest rooms with a sort of cement made of 

 brick dust and lime, so that it shall seem to be but one stone, and is much 

 harder than gravel. I saw them make a sort of pent-house, that was 40 feet 

 long, 8 feet broad, and 5 or 6 inches thick ; which they raised up in my pre- 

 sence, and fixed it to the wall on one side only, without putting any prop under 

 it to support it. 



Their pilots take the altitude, or latitude of places, with a cord that has 

 several knots in it. They put one end of the cord between their teeth, and by 

 means of a piece of wood fixed to it, having a hole through it, they easily ob- 

 serve the tail of ursa minor, which is commonly called the polar star, or north 

 pole. Their lime is usually made of sea shells : that which is made of snail 

 shells serves to whiten their houses; and that which is made of stones they 

 chaw, with the leaves of betel. I have seen some of them that would take as 

 much of it in a day as the quantity of an egg. 



They make their butter in the first pot that comes to hand : they cleave a 

 stick into four quarters at one end, and stretching them out asunder in propor- 

 tion to the size of the pot that contains the milk, they turn the stick round 

 different ways, backwards and forwards, by means of a cord twisted about it ; 

 and by this means in a short time make the butter. Those that sell butter, 

 have the art of making it pass for fresh, when it is old and rank. To do this, 

 they melt it, and pour upon it sour curdly milk ; and 8 hours after, they take it 

 out in lumps, and strain it through a cloth for sale. 



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