72 COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 



would do well to discourage entirely the claying of 

 cacao either in Trinidad or Venezuela, for from their 

 point of view it has nothing to recommend it. One per 

 cent, of clay is sufficient to give a uniform colour, but 

 occasionally considerably more than this is used. If 

 we are to believe reports, deliberate adulteration is 

 sometimes practised. Thus in How Jose formed his 

 Cocoa Estate we read : "A cocoa dealer of our day 

 to give a uniform colour to the miscellaneous brands 

 he has purchased from Pedro, Dick, or Sammy will 

 wash the beans in a heap, with a mixture of starch, 

 sour oranges, gum arabic and red ochre. This mixture 

 is always boiled. I can recommend the ' Chinos ' in 

 this dodge, who are all adepts in all sorts of * adulter- 

 ation ' schemes. They even add some grease to this 

 mixture so as to give the beans that brilliant gloss 

 which you see sometimes." In Trinidad the usual 

 w T ay of obtaining a gloss is by the curious operation 

 known as :< dancing," which is performed on the 

 moistened beans after the clay has been sprinkled on 

 them. It is a quaint sight to see a circle of seven or 

 eight coloured folk slowly treading a heap of beans. 

 The dancing may proceed for any period up to an 

 hour, and as they tread they sing some weird native 

 chant. Somewhat impressed, I remarked to the planter 

 that it had all the appearance of an incantation. He 

 replied that the process cost ad. per cwt. Dancing 

 makes the beans look smooth, shiny, and even, and it 

 separates any beans that may be stuck together in 

 clusters. It may make the beans rounder, and it is said 

 to improve their keeping properties, but this remains 

 to be proved. On the whole, if it is considered desir- 

 able to produce a glossy appearance, it is better to use 

 a polishing machine. 



The Weight of the Cured Cacao Bean. 



Planters and others may be interested to know the 

 comparative sizes of the beans from the various pro- 

 ducing areas of the world. Some idea of these can be 



