CACAO PRODUCTION AND SALE 117 



" To come to the point, I decided to grow coffee and cacao. I 

 cabled infinite regrets. The decision once made, I was happy as a 

 sandboy. J'y suis,j'y reste, said I to myself, said I. Nor have I ever 

 cast one longing look behind."* 



This is fiction, but I think it is true that very few, 

 if any, who become planters in the tropics ever re- 

 turn permanently to England. The hospitality of the 

 planters is proverbial : there must be something good 

 and free about the planter's life to produce men so 

 genial and generous. There is a picture that I often 

 recall, and never without pleasure. A young planter 

 and I had, with the help of more or less willing mules, 

 climbed over the hills from one valley to the next. 

 The valley we had left is noted for its beauty, but to 

 me it had become familiar ; the other vallev I saw 

 now for the first time. The sides were steep and 

 covered with trees, and I could only see one dwelling 

 in the valley. We reached this by a circuitous path 

 through cacao trees. Approaching it as we did, the 

 bungalow seemed completely cut off from the rest of 

 the world. We were welcomed by the planter and his 

 wife, and by those of the children who were not shy. 

 I have never seen more chubby or jolly kiddies, and I 

 know from the sweetness of the children that their 

 mother must have given them unremitting attention. 

 I wondered indeed if she ever left them for a moment. 

 I knew, too, from the situation of the bungalow in the 

 heart of the hills that visitors were not likely to be 

 frequent. The planter's life is splendid for a man who 

 likes open air and nature, but I had sometimes thought 

 that their wives would not find the life so good. I was 

 mistaken. When we came away, after riding some 

 distance, through a gap in the cacao we saw across the 

 valley a group of happy children. They saw us, and all 

 of them, even the shy ones, waved us adieux. 



* Quoted from the New Age, where the Letters of Anthony 

 Farley first appeared . 



