woods alone; and my guide was invariably taken on one side, and
questioned as to way I travelled. As he was in the habit of seeing
me collect flowers and insects, he supposed me to be a naturalist,
and replied that my journey had a scientific object.

After dinner, the amiable lady of the house proposed that I should
go and see the coffee-plantations, warehouses, etc.; and I willingly
accepted her offer, as affording me an opportunity of viewing the
manner in which the coffee was prepared, from beginning to end.

The mode of gathering it I have already described. When this is
done, the coffee is spread out upon large plots of ground, trodden
down in a peculiar manner, and enclosed by low stone walls, scarcely
a foot high, with little drain-holes in them, to allow of the water
running off in case of rain. On these places the coffee is dried by
the glowing heat of the sun, and then shaken in large stone mortars,
ten or twenty of which are placed beneath a wooden scaffolding, from
which wooden hammers, set in motion by water power, descend into the
mortars, and easily crush the husks. The mass, thus crushed, is
then placed in wooden boxes, fastened in the middle of a long table,
and having small openings at each side, through which both the berry
itself and the husk fall slowly out. At the table are seated
negroes, who separate the berry from the husk, and then cast it into
shallow copper cauldrons, which are easily heated. In these it is
carefully turned, and remains until it is quite dried. This last
process requires some degree of care, as the colour of the coffee
depends upon the degree of heat to which it is exposed; if dried too
quickly, instead of the usual greenish colour, it contracts a
yellowish tinge.