A True and ExaB Htflory 



and it will prefently flick together And when they think that fide al- 

 moft enough, with a thing likeaBattle-dore^they turn the other 5 and 

 fo turn and re-turn it fo often, till it be enough^ which is prcfently I 

 done. So they lay this Cake upon a flat board, and make another, and 

 fo another, till they have made enough for the whole Family. This 

 bread they made, when we came firft there, as thick as a pancake^ but 

 after that, they grew to a higher degree of cariofity , and made it as 

 thin as a wafer, and* yet purely white and crifp, as a new made wafer. 

 Salt they never ufe in it, which! wonder at , for the bread being tafte- 

 lefs of it felf, they (hould give it fome little feafoning. There is no way 

 it eats fb well, as in milk, and there it taftes like Almonds. They oifer 

 to make Pye-cruft, but very few attain to the skil of that 5 for, as you 

 work it up with your hand, or roll it out with a roller, it will alwayes 

 crackle and chop,(b that it will not be raifcd to hold any liquorjneither 

 with, nor without, butter or eggs. 



But after many tryals, and as often failings, at laft, I learnt the le- 

 cret of an Indian woman, who fhew'd me the right way of it, and that 

 was, by fearfing it very fine, (and it will fall out as fine , as the fineft 

 wheat-flower m England) if not finer. Yet, this is not all the fecret , 

 for all this will not cure the cracking. But this is the main skill of the 

 bufinefs .• Set water on the fire in a skillet, and put to it as much of 

 this fine flower, as will temper it to the thicknefs of ftarch or pap , and 

 let it boy la little, keeping it ftirring withaflice ^ and mix this with 

 the mafleof flower you mcahto make into pye-cruft , which being 

 very well mingled, and wrought together, you may add what coft you 

 will of butter and eggs, and it will rife and ftand near as well as our 

 paft in En/ifand. 



But thole that have not CQWs,and cannot make butter updn the place, 

 but n-uft make ufe of fuch as is biought from England or Holland^ were 

 better leave it out,and be content to eat their pye-cruft dry. Yet I make 

 a main difference^between butter that is brought from either of thofe 

 places, in refpeft of the times it is brought. For, if a (hip fet out . from 

 England'm November^ and that (hip arrive at the Earhadoes at themid- 

 dle,or near the end oi December^ when the Sun is at the fartheftdi- 

 ftance, the butter may come thither in very good condition 5 and being 

 fet in cool places,may retain the tafte for a while:But,if the (hip fet out 

 in Spring or Summer, that brings this butter, it is not then to be endu- 

 red, it is fo reftieand Ioathft>me. Nor can Cheefebe brought fi:om 

 thence without fpoyl,at that time of the year,except you putit inoyl. 

 Neither are Candlestobe brought, for the whole barrel will ftick to- 

 gether in one lump, and ftink fe) profoundly, as neither Rats nor Mice 

 will come near them, much left eat of them. For which reafen, the 

 Planters, who are much troubled with this annoyance^ as alio, for that 

 thefe candlescannotbe taken out of the barrel whole, nor will fl:and 

 in the candlefl:ick without drooping, and hanging downs they burn 

 forthemoft part wax lights, which they make themfelves, of wax they 

 fetch from Africa^ and have it at a reafbnable rate, there being no Bees 

 in the Barbadoes„ 



I But I am too apt to fly out in extravagant digrefiaons ^ for, the 

 thing I went to fpeak of, was bread only, and the feveral kinds of it 5 

 and having faid as much of the bread of Cajfavie as I know, I will give 



I you one word of anothei' kind of bread they make , vv'hich is a 



mixt 



