THE CACAO BEAN. 73 



a few feet from the ground, but only when these are 

 matured does a leader spring from the side. The leaves 

 are large and undivided. The flowers are clustered 

 and small, and seldom does more than one develop into 

 fruit. The plant has a long taproot, and it succeeds 

 best in a rich, deep, well-drained loam (or soil formed 

 by the decomposition of volcanic rocks) in sheltered 

 valleys with a southern or western aspect, 200 to 500 feet 

 above sea level. In Trinidad, Cuba, and British Guiana 

 it has been grown successfully on a lower level. Proxi- 

 mity to the seashore is said to be an advantage, but 

 exposure to the direct influence of the sea-breeze is 

 undesirable. The tree grows wild in the Central American 

 forests, and varieties have been found in Jamaica and 

 other West Indian islands, and in South America. 

 The Mexicans and the Aztecs, when discovered by the 

 Spaniards, both used the beans of the tree for currency 

 side by side with gold ingots. The Spaniards also relate 

 that as a sacred rite " the blood of slain fowls was 

 sprinkled over the land to be sown with the cultivated 

 product/' Possibly there was some connection with a 

 similar practice which the author noticed in West Africa, 

 around kola and cacao trees, and which a native chief 

 informed him was to attract the red ant from infesting 

 the trees.* 



The best known varieties of seed for planting purposes 

 are the Criollo, For aster o, and Calabacilla. 



The Criollo (" native ") is of average size with a 

 " pinched " neck and a curving point, light in colour 

 and delicate in flavour. Their cotyledons are usually 

 pale or white. 



* " Sierra Leone : Its People, Products, and Secret Societies," p. 55. 



