^RRH 



40 



ANOTHER VISIT. 



attending upon the ladies. After dinner, the* 

 whole party adjourned into a large hall, and 

 country dancing being proposed and agreed to, 

 fiddlers were introduced, and a little after seven 

 o'clock, about twenty couples commenced, and 

 continued this amusement until past tv/o o'clock. 

 Here was the ceremony of the last century in 

 the morning, and in the evening the cheer- 

 fulness of an English party of the present day. 

 I never partook of one more pleasant ; the con- 

 versation, at times renewed, was always gen- 

 teel, but unceremonious, and I met with several 

 well-educated persons, whose acquaintance I 

 enjoyed during, the remainder of my stay at 

 this place. 



The rains this season had been very slight, 

 and scarcely ever prevented our rides into the 

 country in the neighbourhood, to the distance 

 of six or eight miles ; but we never reached 

 beyond the summer dwellings of the inhabitants 

 of Recife. The villages are at this time very 

 dull, having people of colour and negroes as 

 residents almost exclusively. However, as I 

 was fond of the country, I was tempted by the 

 fineness of the weather to remove entirely to a 

 small cottage in the vicinity, where my time 

 passed away pleasantly, though quietly, and in 

 a manner very barren of events. There stands 

 a hamlet not far distant from my new residence,, 

 called Caza Forte, formerly the site of a sugar 



