84 COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 



SOUTH AMERICAN CACAO. 



In the map of South America given on p. 89 the 

 principal cacao producing areas are marked. Their 

 production in 191 8 was as follows : 



Cacao Beans Exported. 



Percentage of 

 Country. Metric Tons.* World's production. 



Brazil 41 ,865 1 5^4 



Ecuador 38,000 i4 - o 



(Guayaquil alone 34,973 tons) 



Venezuela 13, coo 5*0 



Surinam 2,468 0*9 



British Guiana 20 o - oi 



South American Total . . 95,353 tons 35'3 T percent. 



Ecuador. 



Arriba and Machala Cacaos. In Ecuador, for many- 

 years the chief producing area of the world, dwell the 

 cacao kings, men who possess very large and wild cacao 

 forests, each containing several million cacao trees. 

 The method of culture is primitive, and no artificial 

 manures are used, yet for several generations the trees 

 have given good crops and the soil remains as fertile 

 as ever. The two principal cacaos are known as Arriba 

 and Machala, or classed together as Guayaquil after 

 the city of that name. Guayaquil, the commercial 

 metropolis of the Republic of Ecuador, is an ancient 

 and picturesque city built almost astride the Equator. 

 Despite the unscientific cultural methods, and the 

 imperfect fermentation, which results in the cacao 

 containing a high percentage of unfermented beans 

 and not infrequently mouldy beans also, this cacao is 

 much appreciated in Europe and America, for the beans 



* These figures, and others quoted later in this chapter, are: 

 estimates given by Messrs. Theo. Vasmer & Co. in their reports. 



