18 COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 



and bear fruit. The mean temperature in the coun- 

 tries in which it thrives is about 80 degrees F. in the 

 shade, and the average of the maximum temperatures 

 is seldom more than 90 degrees F., or the average of 

 the minimum temperatures less than 70 degrees F. The 

 rainfall can be as low as 45 inches per annum, as in the 

 Gold Coast, or as high as 1 ^o inches, as in Java, pro- 

 vided the fall is uniformly distributed. The ideal spot 

 is the secluded vale, and whilst in Venezuela there are 

 plantations up to 2000 feet above sea level, cacao can- 

 not generally be profitably cultivated above 1000 feet. 



Factors of Geographical Distribution. 



Climate, soil, and manures determine the possible 

 region of cultivation the extent to which the area is 

 utilised depends on the enterprise of man. The original 

 home of cacao was the rich tropical region, far-famed 

 in Elizabethan days, that lies between the Amazon 

 and the Orinoco, and but for the enterprise of man it 

 is doubtful if it would have ever spread from this region. 

 Monkeys often carry the beans manv miles man, the 

 master-monkey, has carried them round the world. 

 First the Indians spread cacao over the tropical belt 

 >of the American continent and cultivated it as far 

 North as Mexico. Then came the Spanish explorers 

 of the New World, who carried it from the mainland 

 to the adjacent West In dian islands. Cacao was planted 

 by them in Trinidad as early as 1525. Since that date 

 it has been successfully introduced into many a tropical 

 island. It was an important day in the history of Ceylon 

 when Sir R. Horton, in 1834, had cacao plants brought 

 to that island from Trinidad. The carefully packed 

 plants survived the ordeal of a voyage of ten thousand 

 miles. The most recent introduction is, however, the 

 most striking. About 1880 a native of the Gold Coast 

 obtained some beans, probably from Fernando Po. 

 In 1 891, the first bag of cacao was exported ; it weighed 

 80 pounds. In 191 5, 24 years later, the export from the 

 Gold Coast was 120 million pounds. 



