Brazil, the Amazons and the coast . many of the plantations, the work is done in larger mor-tars, with great, metal-shod pestles, moved by steam or water-power. In place of the ventilator, also, one sees shallowhand-sieves, which the negro women use with wonderful dex-terity, separating the fine dust, and tossing out the shells witha peculiar twist of the hand. A large plantation, like that of Sr. S, is a little world in THE STORY OF COFFEE. 525 itself. There are smithies and work-shops ; machines forpreparing mandioca, a saw-mill, and a corn-mill, and a sugar-cane mill, and a still where the
Brazil, the Amazons and the coast . many of the plantations, the work is done in larger mor-tars, with great, metal-shod pestles, moved by steam or water-power. In place of the ventilator, also, one sees shallowhand-sieves, which the negro women use with wonderful dex-terity, separating the fine dust, and tossing out the shells witha peculiar twist of the hand. A large plantation, like that of Sr. S, is a little world in THE STORY OF COFFEE. 525 itself. There are smithies and work-shops ; machines forpreparing mandioca, a saw-mill, and a corn-mill, and a sugar-cane mill, and a still where the cane-juice is made into one end of the enclosure there is a brick-kiln, and near bya pottery, where most n of the pots in the vi-veiro were machinery ismoved, partly by aturbine - wheel, butprincipally by a largesteam-engine, whichSr. S. shows with par-donable pride. Fromthe machine-house,he takes us to hisstock - yard, which,though entirely a sub-sidiary affair, is by nomeans insignificant;there are eighty fine. Picking over Coffee. oxen, and nearly thirty mules, a hundred swine, and fiftysheep, with turkeys, fowls, guinea-hens, and pigeons—afeathered host. To crown all, there is a zebu ox from In-dia, which Sr. S. bought in Paris, and imported for experi-ment. Picturesque groups of washerwomen gather about thegreat stone basin, where their work is done. Every morn-ing we hear the clatter of a chopping-machine, cutting upsweet cane-tops for the cattle. In the kitchen the slaverations are prepared in great kettles and ovens. Here ablacksmith is busy at his forge ; there a carpenter is ham- 526 BRAZIL. mering or sawing. Among all we do not see an idle negro,for even the white-haired octogenarians are employed inbasket-weaving or other light work, and all children, exceptthe merest babies, must go to the fields with the rest. Onlyon Sundays, a few of the weaker ones gather about thequarters and indulge in something like recreation. The negroes are kept under
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