CACAO AND ITS CULTIVATION/ 25 



With one deft cut with his machete or cutlass, which 

 hangs in a leather scabbard by his side, the planter 

 severs the pod from the tree, and with another slash 

 cuts the thick, almost woody rind and breaks open the 

 pod. There is disclosed a mass of some thirty or forty 

 beans, covered with juicy pulp. The inside of the rind 

 and the mass of beans are gleaming white, like melting 

 snow. Sometimes the mass is pale amethyst in colour. I 

 perceive a pleasant odour resembling melon. Like 



CACAO PODS, SHEWING BEANS INSIDE. 



little Jack Horner, I put in my thumb and pull out a 

 snow-white bean. It is slippery to hold, so I put it in 

 my mouth. The taste is sweet, something between 

 grape and melon. Inside this fruity coating is the bean 

 proper. From different pods we take beans and cut 

 them in two, and find that the colour of the bean varies 

 from purple almost to white. 



Botanical Description. 



Theobroma Cacao belongs to the family of the 

 Sterculiaceae, and to the same order as the Limes and 

 Mallows. It is described in Strasburger's admirable 

 Text-Book of Botany as follows : 



