170 COLOMBIAN COFFEES. 



when their cultivation and methods of properly preparing 

 are better understood in that country. They are pro- 

 duced principally in the provinces of Yungas and Mapin, 

 small quantities being also grown in the other provinces. 

 The finest kind is that cultivated in the valley of Yungas, 

 which though small in size and pale in color possesses a 

 peculiarly rich and delicate flavor, commanding a very 

 high price relatively. The product, however, is limited, 

 only about 300,000 pounds per annum, or equal to one- 

 fourth the entire supply. The product of Mapin is much 

 larger in size, greenish in color, but not near as rich in 

 flavor, bringing a much less price, the annual product 

 being three times greater. Bolivian coffees in general 

 produce an intoxicating effect, this peculiar action being 

 as yet unaccounted for, but is claimed by some authorities 

 to be acquired from being grown in the immediate vicinity 

 of the cactus plant, from which pulque is distilled, the 

 coffee plant being of such a sensitive and absorbent nature 

 that it readily acquires any foreign flavor within range. 

 Whether this claim is correct or not has not as yet 

 been ascertained, but certain it is that what is known as 

 Singapore coffee usually tastes of spices, Honduras of 

 cocoa and Costa Rica of what is called, for want of a 

 more applicable term, " hide," but which is in reality due 

 to the presence of oxide of iron in the soil. 



Guiana Coffees. Known to trade as "Surinam," 

 "Demerara" and " Cayenne," from the ports of shipment, 

 are produced in the French and Dutch colonies of South 

 America. But although the cultivation of coffee was 

 introduced into these countries about the same period as 

 to Martinique, its cultivation there has made but little 

 progress, the total production being limited in supply, and 

 going chiefly to the mother countries. 



