8 COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 



read down the list of the tributes paid by different 

 cities to the Lords of Mexico, we find " 20 chests of 

 ground chocolate, 20 bags of gold dust," again " 80 

 loads of red chocolate, 20 lip-jewels of clear amber," 

 and yet again " 200 loads of chocolate." 



Another people that share with the Aztecs the honour 

 of being the first great cultivators of cacao are the 

 Incas of Peru, that wonderful nation that knew not 

 poverty. 



The Fascination of Chocolate. 



That chocolate charmed the ladies of Mexico in 

 the seventeenth century (even as it charms the ladies 

 of England to-day) is shown by a story which Gage 

 relates in his New Survey of the West Indias (1648). 

 He tells us that at Chiapa, southward from Mexico, 

 the women used to interrupt both sermon and mass 

 by having their maids bring them a cup of hot choco- 

 late ; and when the Bishop, after fair warning, ex- 

 communicated them for this presumption, they 

 changed their church . The Bishop , he adds , was poisoned 

 for his pains. 



Cacao Beans as Money. 



Cacao was used by the Aztecs not only for the pre- 

 paration of a beverage, but also as a circulating medium 

 of exchange. For example, one could purchase a 

 " tolerably good slave " for 100 beans. We read that : 

 " Their currency consisted of transparent quills of 

 gold dust, of bits of tin cut in the form of a T, and of 

 bags of cacao containing a specified number of grains." 

 ' Blessed monev," exclaims Peter Martyr, " which 

 exempts its possessor from avarice, since it cannot be 

 long hoarded, nor hidden underground ! " 



Derivation of Chocolate. 



The word was derived from the Mexican chocolatl. 

 The Mexicans used to froth their chocolatl with curious 

 whisks made specially for the purpose (see page 6). 



