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OFFICIAL VISIT
[CH. XII.

sisted of two small rooms, one a kitchen, the other a bed-room, with a viranda runing the whole length of the front, and edged with a wall of about two feet in height, on which some of the party were sitting. I thought they seemed to stare at us, as we came up, for they stopped smoking, and knocked the ashes from their cigars: others were smoking ad libitum as they lay stretched along their temporary couches on the floor, or were eating or drinking, or sleeping or lounging, according to the most approved systems of the midday recreation appointed and provided for the sojourners in all tropical climates.