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sured me to the contrary, and observed that her negra did all that 

 sort of domestic work. I perceived, or imagined, that she was rather 

 offended at my remark, and therefore apologized by saying, that it 

 was not uncommon for the ladies in England to interest themselves 

 personally in the concerns of housewifery* The remainder of the 

 evening passed off very agreeably. 



On looking out of my chamber- window the following morning, I 

 was surprised to see two small and veiy neat inclosures, in one of 

 which flax was growing, and in the other wheat. The latter, which 

 apparently had been sown about seven weeks, was very poor and un- 

 promising : the ground had too much water, and seemed of late to 

 have been flooded. Our host regaled us with a breakfast of stewed 

 fowl, excellent coffee and milk, and a dish of feijones, with mandioca 

 and buttered toast ; after which he conducted us to his inclosures. 



The flax was very healthful and strong : he told us he cut* it three 

 or four times a year, and that it was dressed, spun, and woven in his 

 own house. He grew but little, having occasion for no more than 

 what answered his domestic purposes. The wheat, he told us, was 

 blighted. He shewed us a sample of last year's growth, which was 

 Tery poor, coarse, and foul. The mills are of similar construction to 

 those used at Canta Gallo, but I did not observe a pair of stones fit 

 for the grinding of wheat. 



I now expressed a wish to see his dairy, which the good gentleman 

 immediately complied with. Instead of an apartment, such as I ex- 

 pected to find, fitted up and kept in order for that sole purpose, I 

 was shewn into a kind of dirty store-room, the smell of which was in- 

 tolerable. The present, I was told, was not the time for making 

 cheese, as the cows gave milk only in the rainy season. I begged to 

 see the implements used in the process ; and on examining them 



* In this country the practice of cutting flax is attended with great success, and is pre- 

 ferred to that of pulling it, which prevails elsewhere. The fibres, though cut, are considered 

 sufficiently long to be spun and made into good common linen. The old roots produce fresh 

 shoots incredibly soon. 



