70 COCOA 



CHAP. 



" Cacao Criollo," or simply " Criollo," means, there- 

 fore, " native or indigenous cacao," and in this sense it 

 was used in Western Venezuela, where the term arose, 

 to indicate the variety which was originally cultivated 

 there in contradistinction to " Forastero," which 

 meant the " foreigner," or imported variety. " Criollo " 

 means, therefore, " Venezuelan Creole cocoa." 



As regards the way in which the word " Criollo " 

 must now be used, Preuss is very clear and his definition 

 is correct : " The word ' Criollo cacao ' has no other sig- 

 nification than that of a cacao, cultivated since the 

 memory of man, 1 the origin of which is not known ; a 

 cacao, which has been found there in its present state, 

 but which has and this is the main point most dis- 

 tinct characteristics of habit, fruit, size of the leaves, 

 and especially of taste, form and appearance of the 

 seeds." 



The last part of this sentence is indeed the main 

 point, for, if every separate cocoa-growing country 

 called the old, primitive variety "Criollo," and the 

 foreign imported variety " Forastero," the confusion 

 would be unending ; for a variety called " Criollo " in one 

 country would be called " Forastero " in another, being 

 in the one the primitive variety and in the other the 

 imported one. It is therefore agreed in our system of 

 classification to call " Criollo" only the group to which 

 belongs the Venezuelan Creole cocoa or Venezuela 

 Criollo. 



It is to the credit of Preuss that he established clearly 

 the characteristics which distinguish the Criollo from the 

 Forastero. Merit must also be credited to the work of 

 Zehntner, 3 and Lock 4 has contributed to the knowledge 

 of the varieties cultivated in the Botanical Gardens at 

 Peradeniya. 



1 To be added: "in Western Venezuela." 



2 Expedition, p. 199. 



3 Zehntner, " Mededeelingen betreffende op Java aangekweekte cacao- 

 varieteiten " (Free/station te Salatiga, Bulletin No. 9, 1905). 



4 Lock, " On the Varieties of Cacao existing in the Royal Botanic Gardens 

 and Experiment Station at Peradeniya" (Circulars and Ayr. Journal of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, vol. ii. No. 24, October 1904). 



