1 62 CENTRAL AMERICAN COFFEES. 



Martinique. Although originally introduced into 

 the New World through Martinique, which island was 

 for a long time celebrated for the quantity and quality of 

 its coffee, it produces very little comparatively at the 

 present day. In fact, barely sufficient to supply the 

 home demand, the excess going to France, where it is 

 highly esteemed for its intrinsic merits. The bean is 

 exceedingly small, hard and flinty, somewhat resembling 

 that of a Mocha, bluish-gray in color, heavy and round 

 in body, pungent and piquant in flavor, and grading 

 with the finest of the milder sorts. 



Guadeloupe. More or less coffee is produced in 

 Guadeloupe and other of the smaller islands of the 

 Antilles, but chiefly to supply the home demand, and, 

 with the exception of the former, are almost entirely 

 unknown to commerce. It is grown principally in the 

 districts of Bonfleur and Hatrant, what little is exported 

 being shipped to France, where it is valued high com- 

 mercially for its superior drinking qualities. A century 

 ago the island exported nearly 8,000,000 pounds, being 

 now reduced to less than 500,000. The total annual pro- 

 duction of the entire West India Islands not exceeding 

 90,000,000 pounds at the present time, but strenuous 

 efforts are being made to increase the product. 



Coffee forms the principal staple of the Central Ameri- 

 can States, the soil and climate being eminently adapted 

 to the cultivation of fine coffees, but, as in all other 

 countries, the best grades are produced on the upland or 

 mountain slopes. In some of these countries, however, 

 the most primitive system of cultivation and elementary 

 methods of preparing are still in use, while in others, 



