“_Nov. 18th._—Went ashore at six o’clock, and found that Sennor Antonio had been waiting for me two hours. It being too late to go into the country, I staid at his house till dinner. He kept me too much in his company, but I found intervals for retirement. In a cool and shady part of the garden, near some water, I sat and sang—‘O’er the gloomy hills of darkness.’ I could read and pray aloud, as there was no fear of any one understanding me. “A slave, in my bed-room, washed my feet. I was struck with the degree of abasement expressed in the act, and as he held the foot in the towel, with his head bowed down towards it, I remembered the condescension of the blessed Lord. May I have grace to follow such humility!” “_Nov. 19th._—Early after breakfast went in a palanquin to Sennor Dominigo’s, and from thence with him two or three miles into the country: at intervals I got out and walked. I was gratified with the sight of what I wanted to see; namely, some part of the country in its original state, covered with wood; it was hilly, but not mountainous. The luxuriance was so rank, that the whole space, even to the tops of the trees, was filled with long stringy shrubs and weeds, so as to make them impervious and opaque. The road was made by cutting away the earth on the side of the hill, so that there were woods above and below us. The object of our walk was to see a pepper plantation, made in a valley, on a perfect level. The symmetry of the trees was what charmed my Portuguese friend; but to me, who was seeking the wild features of America, it was just what I did not want. The person who showed us the grounds, was one that had been a major in the Portuguese army, and had retired on a pension. The border consisted of pine apples, planted between each tree; the interior was set with lemon trees, here and there, between the pepper plants. We were shown the root of the mandioc, called by us tapioca; it was like a large horse radish; the mill for grinding it was extremely simple; a horizontal wheel, turned by horses, put in motion a vertical one, on the circumference of which was a thin brazen plate, furnished on the inside like a nutmeg grater; a slave held the root to the wheel, which grated it away, and threw it in the form of a moist paste, into a receptacle below: it is then dried in pans, and used as a farina with meat. At Sennor Antonio’s, a plate of tapioca was attached to each of our plates. Some of the pepper was nearly ripe, and of a reddish appearance; when gathered, which it is in April, it is dried in the sun.”