CACHAO.-CACTUS. 



luiil in skins, or on leaves to be dried. They have 

 now a sweetish acid taste, and inay be oaten like any 

 other fruit. When perfectly dry, they are put into 

 bags, each containing alunii a hundred weight, and, 

 thus packed, are exported to foreign countries. Pre- 

 viously to being formed into chocolate, these nuts are 

 generally tousled or pan-lied over the fire in an iron 

 vessel, after which process their thin external cover- 

 ing is easily separated. The kernel is then pounded 

 in a mortar, and subsequently ground on a smooth, 

 \varm stone. Sometimes a litue arnatto is added ; 

 and, with the a'd of water, the whole is formed into a 

 pasLe. This is pit, whilst hot, into tin moulds, where, 

 in a short time, it congeals ; and in this state it is the 

 chocolate of die shops. In South America and Spain 

 other modes are adopted : the chocolate is mixed with 

 sugar, long pepper, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, almonds, 

 and other ingredients, according to the taste of the 

 respective inhabitants. Mr Edwards was of opinion, 

 n.ai the cakes of chocolate used in Britain were 

 made of about one-half genuine cacao, and the re- 

 mainder of flour or castile soap. That from Caraccas 

 is considered the best. By the natives of South 

 America the chocolate nuts are used for food. A 

 white, oily matter, about the consistence of suet, is 

 also obtained by bruising them, and boiling the pulp. 

 The oil is by this means liquified, and rises to the 

 surface, where it is left to cool and congeal, that it 

 may the more easily be separated. This, which is 

 called butter of cacao, is without smell, and, when 

 fresh, has a very mild taste. Its principal use is as 

 an ingredient in pomatums. From the nuts, when 

 slightly roasted, an oil is sometimes obtained by pres- 

 sure, which is occasionally used in medicine. 



CACHAO, KACHO, HBCHO, or BAC-KING ; capital of 

 the kingdom of Tonquin, on the river Songkoi, about 

 100 miles from its mouth. It is an open, straggling 

 town, with wide streets, the houses of mud, or wood 

 thatched with straw. It was formerly the residence 

 of the king ; and the British and Danes had factories 

 there. It is a commercial place of some consequence. 

 Gold, beautiful silks, and the finest lackered ware, is 

 exported. Lat. 21 25' N. ; Ion. 105 12' E. 



CACHKLOT. See JVhalet. 



CACHET, LETTRES DE ; secret warrants, by means of 

 which, under the former kings of France, and their 

 ministers, any body could be imprisoned or banished 

 to a certain place, without any reason given. The in- 

 troduction of them is ascribed to the famous Capuchin 

 padre Joseph, under the ministry of cardinal Riche- 

 lieu. In this sense the term lettres de cachet is com- 

 monly used, but it has, in fact, a more extensive sig- 

 nification. All dispatches from the royal state chan- 

 cery were issued either openly, as lettres patentes, or 

 sealed, as lettres closes, or de cachet. The first were 

 always written upon parchment, the name of the king 

 signed by a minister of state, countersigned by the 

 minister, not folded, but only the lower part turned 

 over, and stamped with the great seal of state. They 

 commenced with the words A tous presens et d venir 

 Salut! and ended with the form Car tel est notre 

 plaisir. In this shape all edicts, ordinances, charters, 

 privileges, &c.. were issued, but all had to be re- 

 corded by the parliament of the district to which they 

 referred. The representations of the parliament often 

 prevented these lettres patentes from being carried 

 into effect. The others, the lettres closes, were only 

 written on paper, some in the name of the king (who 

 spoke in the first person, and concluded with the 

 formula Sur ce je prie Dieu, qu'il vous'ait dans sa 

 sainte et divine garde, and signed with his name), 

 some by commission from the king. In the latter 

 case, they began with the words De par le rot : il est 

 ordonne d, and were signed by a minister. They 

 were then closed, and sealed with the small royal seal, 



so that the contents could not be seen. The ktlrn 

 clust-s were used for many purposes besides that of ar- 

 rests. All the orders sent to officers and private in- 

 dividuals (e. g., to report opinions, to repair to a cer- 

 tain place, to leave their place of residence, or go into 

 banishment) were issued in this form. Warrants also 

 were often issued in this form, because the courts, and 

 particularly the police, could not have acted without 

 such authority in urgent cases. To the lieutenant- 

 general de la police of Paris a number of them were 

 always given, to fill out the blanks as occasion might 

 require. Without them, he would not have been au- 

 thorized to arrest suspected persons. Frequently the 

 arrest by lettre de cachet was a favour on the part of 

 the king, as it withdrew the accused from the severer 

 punishment to which he would have been liable upoj; 

 a trial before the courts. (See Linguet's Memoirs stir 

 la Hast He, London, 1783, andMirabeau's DCS Lettrcs 

 de Cachet et des Prisons d'Etat, 1782.) These letters 

 were detestable instruments of arbitrary power, hos- 

 tile to every principle of right. See Bastile. 



CACIQUE ; in some parts of America the title of the 

 native chiefs at the time of the conquest by the 

 Spaniards. 



CACODEMON. See Demon. 



CACOPHONY ; a fault of style, which consists in a 

 harsh and disagreeable sound, produced by the meet- 

 ing of two letters or two syllables, or by the two fre- 

 quent repetition of the same letters or syllables. It 

 destroys the harmony of the whole period ; it is un- 

 pleasant in prose and intolerable in verse. Thus the 

 Iloman was shocked with the 



O fortunatam natam, me coiisule, Honiara ; 



and, according to Juvenal, a few more such cacopho- 

 nies would have saved Cicero's head. A French ear 

 is offended with Voltaire for the expression g/aca sa 

 main. Pope says, 



And oft the *ar the open vowels tire. 



CACTUS, in botany ; a genus of succulent plants, 

 containing twenty-eight species, permanent in dura- 

 tion, singular and various in structure, generally 

 without leaves, having the stem or branches jointed, 

 for the most part armed with sp ! nes in bundles, with 

 which, in many specie*, bristles are intermixed. 

 They are natives of South America and the West In- 

 dies. Several of the species are cultivated in other 

 countries, for curiosity, in green-houses. Gardeners 

 divide them into, 1. melon Jhistles ; these are of a 

 roundish form : 2. torch-thistles ; erect, supporting 

 themselves : 3. cereuses ; creeping with lateral roots . 

 4. prickly-pears, or Indian figs ; compressed, with 

 proliferous joints. The two first sorts appear like 

 large, fleshy, green melons, with deep ribs, set all 

 over with strong, sharp thorns, setting close to the 

 surface of the earth, and differing in height from a 

 foot to a yard. When these plants are cut through 

 the middle, their inside is found to be a soft, pale- 

 green, fleshy substance, very full of moisture, the taste 

 of which is agreeably acid. The fruits are frequently 

 eaten in the West Indies. One of the most remark- 

 able species of cactus is the C. grandifloms, or night- 

 flowering creeping cereus, belonging to the third 

 class. The flower of this species, though very short- 

 lived, is a splendid production. It begins to open in 

 the evening, between seven and eight o'clock, is fully 

 blown by eleven, and by three or four in the morning 

 begins to fade ; soon after which, it hangs down in a 

 state of irrecoverable decay. When the plants are 

 large, several flowers will open in the same night, 

 and there will be a succession of them for several 

 nights together. The calyx, when expanded, is about 

 six inches, sometimes nearly a foot, in diameter, yel- 

 low within, and dark-brown without. The petals are 



