d passed under
the opposite arm, with a full petticoat, is a favourite dress. Some wrap
a long cloth round them, like the Hindoos; and some wear an ugly
European frock, with a most ungraceful sort of bib tied before them.
Round the washerwoman's plain, hedges of acacia and mimosa fence the
gardens of plantains, oranges, and other fruits which surround every
villa; and beyond these, the coffee plantations extend far up the
mountain, whose picturesque head closes the scene. The country-houses
here are neither large nor magnificent; but they are decorated with
verandas, and have often a handsome flight of steps up to the
dwelling-house of the master, beneath which are either store-houses, or
the habitations of the slaves: they have all a gateway, large and
handsome, whatever the house may be; and that gateway generally leads to
at least one walk where every kind of flower is cultivated. Brazil is
particularly rich in splendid creeping flowers and shrubs; and these are
mingled with the orange and lemon blossoms, and the jasmine and rose
from the East, till the whole is one thicket of beauty and fragrance. I
scarcely know whether my invalid or myself enjoyed the morning most. A
few more such, and I should think all sickness must disappear.

_December 20th._--Spent in paying and receiving visits in the
neighbourhood. The houses are built a good deal like those of the south
of Europe: there is generally a court, on one side of which is the
dwelling-house, and the others are formed by the offices and garden.
Sometimes the garden is immediately close to the house, and in the
suburbs this is generally the case. In town, very few houses have the
luxury of a garden at all. These gardens are rather like oriental
flower-plots, but they assimilate well with the climate. The flowers of
the parterres of Europe grow by the side of the gayer plants and shrubs
of the country, shaded by the orange, banana, bread-fruit (now nearly
naturalised here,) and the palms, between straight alleys of limes, over
whose heads the African melia waves its lilac blossoms; and on the
raised water channels, china vases are placed, filled with aloes and
tuberoses, and here and there a statue intermixed. In these gardens
there are occasionally fountains and seats under the trees, forming
places of no undelightful rest in this hot climate.

_Friday, December 21st._--Mr. Hayne, one of the commissioners of the
slave trade commission, and his sister, having propo