66 COCOA 



CHAP. 



are very numerous, are also included in the Forastero 

 group. 



Thus the Forastero group contains many types, 

 some of which have, in a greater or smaller degree, 

 Criollo characteristics, and the first impression is that 

 the Forastero are a mixture of innumerable types 

 which exhibit the different characteristics in every 

 imaginable combination. We find, for instance, types 

 with fruits which are slender, not constricted near 

 the stalk, with deep furrows of the fruit-wall and large 

 light-coloured seeds ; others with short fruits, constricted 

 near the stalk, with shallow furrows, and small dark- 

 coloured seeds ; others again which show another com- 

 bination of characteristics e.g. slender-shaped fruits, 

 constricted near the base, with deep furrows and small, 

 dark-coloured seeds. 



In order to make a logical and natural system of 

 all these types of Forastero, we ought first to ascertain 

 which are the original types and then which are the 

 descendants of each. If the various original types 

 could still be found for instance, as wild trees in the 

 forests of different countries this would be a great 

 help, but unfortunately this is no longer possible. 

 Attention has already been directed (Chap. II.) to the 

 insuperable difficulty of proving, when cocoa is found 

 growing wild, whether the growth is really spontaneous 

 or not. The variety found by Aublet in the forests 

 of French Guiana, 1 the variety found by Hart in the 

 forests of Trinidad,' 2 and many others found in a wild 

 state, are therefore without any value for the classifica- 

 tion of the varieties, and cannot be regarded as primitive 

 varieties, ancestors of the cultivated ones. 



Accordingly, the only thing to be done is to group 

 and classify the cultivated types as well as possible, in 

 order to obtain at least a clear survey, and to build up a 

 more or less artificial system of cocoa in the same way 



1 This cocoa was called by Aublet Cacao guyancnsis, and later Thcobroma 

 guyanensis, but it is nothing else but the ordinary cocoa (Theobroma cacao). 



2 Hart, Cacao (2nd edition, 1900), p. 52 ; Hart, Annual Report, 1906-7, 

 p. 19. 



