CACAO. 247 



houses are erected, according to the extent of the estate. A 

 curing-house consists of a floor, generally twenty-five or thirty 

 feet long, by fifteen or twenty feet wide, elevated three or twelve 

 feet from the ground ; two running roofs of thirty or thirty-five 

 feet long are made to run in opposite directions on rafters sup- 

 ported on pillars or wood posts. Under the floor, or by the side 

 of the curing-house, is a sweating-room, more or less spacious ; 

 it is so made as to close hermetically, with a lattice bottom 

 through which the juice or acidulated liquor from the fermenting 

 mass is allowed to run off and escape outside. When the cacao 

 has fermented a sufficient time, it is taken from the sweating- 

 room and spread on the floor; the roofing is then run off, to 

 allow the direct action of the sun ; it is put in heaps at night; 

 and spread again next morning, and so on for three, four, or five 

 days or more, till the beans are sufficiently dried ; they are then 

 put in bags and sent to the town. 



Cacao has been analysed by several well-known chemists, 

 and we may say that it contains, as essential components, 1st, 

 a fatty substance — cacao fat — ranging from 36 to 46 per cent. ; 

 fecula, from 6 to 14 per cent. ; nitrogenous compounds, about 

 12 per cent.; Theobromine, 1 to 2 per cent. Theobromine is an 

 alkaloid characteristic of cacao, as Cafeine and Theine are 

 characteristic of coffee and tea, and yet very similar in their 

 properties. 



" When we see," says Payen, u that the cacao bean, in its 

 composition, presents more nitrogenous matter than wheat ; 

 about twenty times as much of fatty substance, a notable propor- 

 tion of fecula, and a pleasant aroma which stimulates appetite, 

 we are inclined to admit that such substance must be eminently 

 nourishing. Experience has proved that it is really so. In fact, 

 cacao, intimately mixed with equal quantity or two- thirds of 

 sugar, to form the well-known beverage, chocolate, is a substan- 

 tial aliment under all circumstances, and capable of supporting 

 human strength during travelling/' 



Trinidad cacao now sells from 70 to 90 shillings, the best 

 marks as high as 110 shillings per cwt. During the revolutionary 

 war of the Spanish colonies, the best Trinidad cacao sold for 28 

 dollars a fanega of 110 lbs., and continued to sell at a high price 

 —from fourteen to sixteen dollars — for several years. The 

 price began then to decline till, in 1827, it fell as low as three 



