mm ■■ WM ■ 



192 



COFFEE AND CACAO. 



Yet the plants appear to be totally different 

 from each other, for the Brazil batata or potatoe 

 is produced from a creeper. 



Tobacco is planted upon almost all the sugar- 

 plantations, and by a majority of persons of the 

 lower classes, for their own use. A consider- 

 able quantity is imported from the southern 

 provinces of Brazil into Pernambuco, The 

 ants do not molest the plant, but in the parts 

 of the country which are much infested by 

 these insects, the peasants mix the seed of the 

 tobacco with wood ashes before they strew with 

 it the ground which they are about to sow. 

 The ants have an antipathy to the ashes, and 

 thus the seed is preserved. 



Rice is very little cultivated in Pernambuco ; 

 but at Maranham it forms the second object of 

 trade. The use of it in Pernambuco is incon- 

 siderable, from the idea that it is unwholesome 

 for the negroes ; and indeed I never met with 

 any of the Africans who preferred it to other 

 kinds of food. 



Coffee and Cacao are yet planted as expe- 



Du Tertre says, " Lorsque les ouragans ont tant de fois 

 ravage les monyocs de nos isles, on a toujours eu recours aux 

 patates, satis lesquelles bien du monde auroit pery de faim." 

 And again, " Tons les matins, c'est une coustume generate 

 par toutes les isles de faire cuyre plein une chaudiere de patates 

 pour dejedner." — Histoire des Antilles, &c. torn, ii. p. 118. 

 and 119. 



