VISIT TO A BRAZILIAN FAMILY. 



37 



This consisted of great numbers of dishes, placed 

 upon the table without any arrangement, and 

 brought in without any regard to the regularity 

 of courses. We were, as may be supposed, 

 rather surprised at being complimented with 

 pieces of meat from the plates of various per- 

 sons at the table. I have often met with this 

 custom, particularly amongst families in the in- 

 terior, and this I now speak of had only resided 

 in Recife a short time ; but many of the people 

 of the town have other ideas on these matters. 

 Two or three knives only were placed upon the 

 table, which obliged each person to cut all the 

 meat upon his own plate into small pieces, and 

 pass the knife to his next neighbour. There 

 was, however, a plentiful supply of silver forks, 

 and abundance of plates. Garlic formed one 

 ingredient in almost every dish, and we had a 

 great deal of wine during the dinner. The mo- 

 ment we finished, every one rose from the table, 

 and removed into another apartment. At eight 

 o'clock a large party assembled to tea, and we 

 did not take our departure until a very late 

 hour. On our arrival at home, my friend and I 

 sat together to consider of the transactions of 

 this day, which we had thus passed entirely with 

 a Brazilian family, and both agreed that we had 

 been much amused, and that we had really felt 

 much gratification, save the business at the 

 dining table. The conversation was trifling, 



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