FAMILY HERBAL. 53 



J' 



extcrcallj for woup.ds. A strong' decoction of 

 them is made to wash old ulcers, and tlie juice is 

 applied to fresh hurts, and thej saj with great 



success. 



C. 



The Chocolate Nut-tree. Cacao, 



THIS is an American tree, very beautiful, as 

 well as very valuable for its fruit. The trunk 

 is o^ the thickness of ; a man's les:, and the 

 height of fifteen feet ; but in this it diffcis 

 reatlj according to the soil ; and the size of the 

 ruit also will differ from the same cause, whence 

 some have talked of four different kinds of the 

 chocolate nut. The tree grows very regularly. 

 The surface is uneven, for the bark rises into 

 tubercles; the leaves are half a foot long, three 

 inches broad, of a fine strong green, and pointed 

 at the ends. The flowers are small and yel- 

 lowish, and they grow in clusters from the 

 branches, and even from the trunk of the tree; 

 but each has its separate stalk. The fruit is of 

 the shape of a cucumber, half a foot long, 

 and thicker than a man's wrist ; this is ridged, 

 and, when ripe, of a purplish colour, with some 

 tinct of yellow. The cacao nuts, as they are 

 called, are lodged within this fruit; every fruit 

 contains between twenty and thirty of them. They 

 are of the bigness of a large olive, hi\t not so 

 thick: and are composed of a woody shell, and a 

 large kernel, which aflfords the chocolate. 



The common w ay of taking this in chocolates 

 is Rot the only one in which it may he givea; 

 the nut itself may be put into electuaries. It i» 

 Tery nourishing and regtorative. 



