COCOA PLANTATIONS 



enabled to carry messages at the rate of 150 miles a day. 

 Then again the Cocoes of the West Indian Islands is a sort 

 of Yam (Colocasia antiqitAj7'U7ri). Coco-de-mer is the fruit of 

 a palm common in the Seychelles Islands (Lodoicea Sey- 

 chellarum). 



The cocoa which gives the ordinary chocolate and cocoa of 

 the breakfast table is the seed of a tree (Theobroma cacao). 

 The name is derived from Oeos, god, and IBpoojuLa, food. It 

 may be translated, " That which the gods browse upon.'" 



This plant is one of those which were cultivated by that 

 ancient, powerful, semi-civilized nation, the Aztecs of Mexico. 

 They have almost entirely vanished ; at any rate their 

 descendants, if they have any, exercise practically no in- 

 fluence in the world, but they have left us chocolate. They 

 fully appreciated the plant, and even more than we do, for 

 they worshipped it with grateful and superstitious awe. 



In their tombs, chocolate flavoured with vanilla was 

 placed, in order to provide the ghost with suflicient susten- 

 ance for his or her aerial flight to the Land of the Sun. 

 Columbus brought home some cocoa on his return from his 

 first voyage. The Jesuit fathers in Mexico greatly helped 

 in developing the plantation of cocoa in the days of the 

 Spaniards. At present the largest amount comes from 

 Ecuador, which produces about 50,000,000 pounds weight. 



It is a small tree, twenty to thirty feet high, growing in 

 the warm, moist, and sheltered forests of Central and South 

 America. It has a large fruit, within which are the numerous 

 cocoa beans, " nibs,*" or seeds. The tree does not bear until 

 it is five years old. The fermentation and drying of the 

 beans require some care. 



Chocolate is made from the powdered cocoa mixed with 

 sugar and other materials. Chocolate, like tea and coft'ee, 



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