64                      TRAVELS  IN  TRINĪDAD.             Let. 4.]
nntil they become worse than brutes. The consé-
quence is apparent ; the French take every care of their
health, but the British study nothing so minutely as
their own destruction, literally dying in the fumes of
intemperance, with their minds full of obscenity ; dis-
gorging it at the mouth.
Coffee requires great nicety ia roasting j. if under-
done, its virtues will not be imparted ; if over-done, if
will have a flattish, burnt, and bitter taste ; therefore its
virtues will be destroyed. It ought to be confined very
close at the time of roasting, and also till used, in order
to retain its pungent flavour. The French always make
it very strong, preferring the fine syrup of crude sugar to
lump or loaf. The way they make it, is, to take a cup»
ful of ground coffee which they put into something
almost exactly resembling a small funnel lined with
flannel ; they then pour as much boiling water over it
as will fill a cup ; they use it without milk. The extra-
ordinary influence which coffee, thus judiciously pre-
pared, imparts to the stomach, from its tonic and invi-
gorating qualities, is. strongly exemplified by the imme-
diate effect produced on taking it, when the stomach
is overloaded with food, nauseated with surfeit, or
debilitated by intemperance. To constitutionally weak
stomachs it affords a pleasing sensation ; it accelerates
the progress Of digestion, corrects crudities, and removes
flatulencies ; besides its effects in supporting theharmony
of the gastric powers, when it diffuses a genial warmth
that cherishes the animal spirits, and takes away,'
according to Bag live, the Iistlessness and langour
which so greatly embitter the hours of nervous people
after any deviation to excess, fatigue, or irregularity.
.The foundation of all the mischiefs of intemperance is
laid in the stomach ; for, when it is injured, instead o£