390 A YEAR OF COSTA RICAN NATURAL HISTORY 



ing In the small clearing around the house were fine individual 

 specimens of higuerones, guapinol, guachipelin, two sorts 

 of "hule" {Castilloa sp.), the rubber trees of Costa Rica, 

 papayas in flower, "cenizaro" {Pithecolohium saman) whose 

 extremely hard wood is valued for spokes of wheels, manzana 

 rosa, mararion, oranges, sweet and sour lemons and man- 

 darins. The forest outside the clearing was magnificent, 

 full of hule, nance, cedro and at least three kinds of cacao. 

 One of these last had a large pod, red when ripe, growing on 

 the main stem of the tree. Another had a shorter black pod 

 about four inches long, which was borne on the younger 

 branches {Theobroma angustifolia) . The Costa Rican name 

 for this species is "cacao silvestre" or in parts of the country 

 "cacao de mico" — monkey's cocoa. And all the pods we 

 found had a hole bitten in the rind, through which the mon- 

 keys had evidently thrust their hands and removed the seeds. 

 The seeds of the cacao are in four irregular rows on a central 

 placenta, and the whole mass is embedded in a rich white 

 pulp which has a pleasant taste. It is greedily eaten by 

 monkeys, chickens, birds and indeed anyone who can get 

 at it. The cacao itself is contained in the cotyledons. The 

 seeds or "cocoa beans" are soaked in water three days to 

 clean off the pulp, dried, ground and boiled to get rid of the 

 first "crop" of oil, after which the cacao paste is ready to be 

 made Into chocolate. Away from the towns it Is always 

 prepared In a jicara and Is whipped to a delicious froth by a 

 little wooden beater, the molenlllo. 



Immediately behind the house was a small fenced garden 

 patch, with enough coffee to supply the family. "Balsam 

 of Peru" {Toluifera pereira) was growing here and "gengl- 

 bre" or the ginger of commerce {Zingiber officinale), while 

 by the fence was a large clump of "Hoja de sen" or "clavel- 

 llna" {Poinciana pulcherrima), whose medicinal properties 

 resemble those of the senna of druggists. The plant grows 



