NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



125 



upright on the table, resting on the end of its haft ; and when they are 

 no longer wanted the knife is deliberately wiped upon the cloth, and 

 returned to its sheath, which is placed in the girdle behind the .loins. 

 There it rests until some similar occasion calls it forth, or it is produced 

 to cut a switch in the woods, or, possibly, to obey the dictates of revenge. 



The business of the table lasts about two hours. Brazilians do not 

 sit at their wine ; a sufficient quantity is taken with the food, and the 

 compliments of the bottle are carried to a great extent. When a gentle- 

 man takes wine with another, the degree of their regard is expressed by 

 the fulness of their tumblers, and both endeavour to carry them to their lips 

 without spilling a drop ; the wine is drunk off at a single draught, and as 

 exactly as possible in the same time. If the master of a house propose 

 a toast, it is generally the health of his own wife ; and to honour the lady 

 I have seen a whole bottle swallowed Avithout a pause. But such compli- 

 ments are, in a great measure, new among the people of Rio, and they 

 have not yet taken a firm hold, or spread widely. They are, indeed, 

 adopted chiefly out of regard to the British, of whom it has unfortu- 

 nately been reported, that they are much devoted to the bottle. The 

 Brazilians, unused to such modes of complimenting, often exhibit scenes 

 of beastliness, for which friendly intention is no adequate excuse. 



After dinner Coffee is brought in, and each person takes one cup 

 only, as a sedative. A slave then appears with a basin and ewer, both 

 in general of massy metal ; she has a long towel thrown over her 

 shoulder, and goes round to every guest, who holds his hands over the 

 basin while she pours water upon them from the ewer. In this way he 

 washes as much as he pleases, not his hands onl)^ but his mouth, perhaps 

 his face, and even his arms. Though these ablutions are not very deco- 

 rously conducted, they exhibit one of the cleanliest and best customs of 

 the country. Afterward every one retires to his Siesta, stretching his 

 limbs w^herever he can find some shade, and that degree of the sombre 

 which may favour his repose. Some spread a mat in the open air, under 

 the thick foliage of a tree, and there indulge in all the luxury of 

 laziness ; others resort to what they emphatically call their diversions. 



