26 COCOA AXD CHOCOLATE, 



Another writer of the seventeenth century ' describing the various 

 products of the New World, says : 



" But much more beneficial is the Cacao, with which Fruit New 

 Spain drives a great Trade ; nay, serves for Coin'd Money. When 

 they deliver a Parcel of Cacao, they tell them by five, thirty and a 

 hundred. Their Charity to the Poor never exceeds above one Cacao- 

 Nut. The Trees on which this Fruit grows are divided into four sorts^ 

 differing in bigness and shape : all of them are very tender, for they 

 will not only grow in no place, but on their usual Ground, but cannot 

 endure the cold Nights Storms, or excesses of Heat ; wherefore the 

 Cacao-Trees which grow out of the Fruit that falls off, come to no 

 perfection, except in shady and warm Valleys; which is also the 

 reason whv the Planters of New Spain plant the great Leafy Tree 

 Cacaoquanthly (that is, The Mother of the Cacao's) near the Cacao- 

 Tree, that it may the better grow under the Shadow thereof ; in which 

 manner whole Woods are planted : In the second year it bears Fruit, 

 which is first ripe in January, and again in the midst of Summer. 

 Amongst the four sorts the chief est is Quathuitl, of an indifferent 

 heighth, and full of sharp-pointed Leaves, which are fast to the Boughs 

 without Stalks, and bears a great Flower of a yellowish colour, which 

 falling off, leaves long, tough and hairy Threds behind them, out of 

 which grows the Cacavently, a Fruit which is oval, heavy like a Melon, 

 of a Saffron-colour, of a fat and thick Juice, a bitterish, yet pleasant 

 taste, and very cooling ; being dry'd in the Sun it is thereby made fit 

 to keep ; it is likewise highly esteem'd, because the Chocolate is made 

 of the same. Before the Spaniards made themselves Masters of 

 Mexico, no other Drink was esteem'd but that of the Cacao; none 

 caring for Wine, notwithstanding the Soil produces Vines every where 

 in great abundance of it self. But besides the Quathuitl, New Spain 

 hath three other sorts of Cacao-Trees, viz. Mecanal, pleasant to behold 



r nT , Latest ' and Most Accurate Description of the New World. By Arnoldus Montanus. 



Collected by John Ogilby, 1671. 



