Chap. IV. CACAO-GEOWING. 159 



the arroba of 821bs., may be taken as the averao-e. 

 The management of a plantation requires very few 

 hands ; the tree yields three crops a-year, namely, one 

 each in March, June, and September; but the June 

 crop often fails, and those of the other months are very 

 precarious. In the intervals between harvest-times the 

 plantations require weeding ; the principal difficulty is 

 to keep the trees free from woody creeiDers and epi- 

 phytes, but especially from parasitic plants of the 

 Loranthacese group, the same family to which our 

 miseltoe belongs, and which are called " pes de passa- 

 rinho," or " little birds' feet," from their prett}^ orange 

 and red flowers resembling in shape and arrangement 

 the three toes of birds. When the fruit is ready for 

 gathering, neighbours help each other, and so each 

 family is able to manage its own little plantation 

 without requiring slaves. It appeared to me that 

 cacao-growing would be an emplojmaent well suited 

 to the habits and constitutions of European immi- 

 grants. All the work is done under shade ; but it 

 would yield a poor livelihood unless a better style of 

 cultivation and preparation were introduced than that 

 now prevailing here. The fruit is of oblong shape, 

 and six to eight inches in length ; the seeds are 

 enveloped in a mass of white pulp which makes a 

 delicious lemonade when mixed with water, and when 

 boiled down produces an excellent jelly. 



I found many interesting insects in the cacaoal ; the 

 most handsome was the Salamis jucunda, a magnificent 

 butterfly with sickle-shaped wings, which flies with 

 great rapidity, but is readily taken when quietly feeding 



