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COLOMBIA. 



agreeable. She then retired amidst the plaudits 

 of the company, who were delighted with the 

 manner in which she had done the honours of the 

 house: but she returned immediately, bringing 

 with her a guitar, which she placed in the hands 

 of a young lady, her friend, who had just come 

 in, and then dropped off modestly and quietly to 

 the farthest end of the great sofa. 



Meanwhile the master of the house sat apart in 

 deep conversation with a gentleman recently ar- 

 rived from Lima, who was recounting to his friend 

 the amount of various duties levied at that place 

 by San Martin's government. He listened very 

 composedly till the narrator mentioned the duty 

 on Cocoa. The effect was instantaneous ; he 

 rose half off his seat, and with a look of anger 

 and disappointment, was going to utter a furious 

 philippic against San Martin. The other, ob- 

 serving the expression of his friend's countenance, 

 which was wrinkled up like that of a game cock 

 in wrath, and dreading an explosion, took upon 

 himself to put his friend's looks into language, 

 and then to answer them himself ; and all with 

 such volubility, that the unhappy master of the 



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