174 COCOA TREE. 



required for the table, are roasted till the husks 

 may be taken off, after which they are ground to a 

 fine powder. Chocolate is merely a preparation of 

 the cocoa made by bruising it into a paste, which is 

 afterwards smoothed with an iron. This is com- 

 monly flavoured with cinnamon and vanilla. 



Plantain-trees are found to grow profusely, 

 wherever the nature of the soil and the degree of 

 solar heat render them, essential to the well-being 

 of the inhabitants. Plumboldt relates that they 

 present their fruit indifferently to the natives of 

 equinoctial Asia and America, of tropical Africa, 

 and the islands of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; 

 and that, when the heat of the country exceeds 

 75 of Fahrenheit, the banana forms a principal 

 article of food to a large portion of mankind 

 within and near the tropics. Standing singly or in 

 groups, the plantain produces a pleasing effect, espe- 

 cially when contrasted with the luxuriant foliage of 

 tropical plants. The top is surmounted with a 

 cluster of leaves and a spike of flowers, that rise 

 from out the centre. The leaves are long and narrow, 

 smooth and beautiful to the eye, and strengthened 

 down the centre with a firm middle rib. The fruit 

 is about two inches in diameter, yellow when ripe, 

 and pleasant to the taste. 



This valuable plant has not been found in an un- 

 cultivated state, nor is it generally increased by 

 seeds. The wildest tribes of South America, who 

 depend upon the fruit for their subsistence, trans- 

 plant the suckers around their huts, and gather from 

 them ripe fruit in less than a year. When the 

 fruit-stalk is cut off, a sprout quickly appears beside 



