2 COCOA 



have'-ftm'e to a^eusfe-nae of remembering your birthday. 

 " That's almost exactly what Linnaeus called cocoa 

 Theobroma which, being translated from Greek into 

 English, means ' food of the gods.' Are you sure you've 

 reached the bottom of that box ?" 



Taking the hint, you grope again amongst the shav- 

 ings, and presently bring to light an envelope. You 

 break the seal, peer in curiously, and with a puzzled 

 look shake out on to the table a dozen or so brown 

 beans. 



" What in the name of all the theos are those things ? 33 

 you ask. " What's the joke ?" 



"Depends on what you call a joke," I reply. "I 

 have a little plan in mind, and if it takes your fancy 

 we shall soon be playing the very practical joke of 

 slipping away from rain and slush, fog and snow, to 

 winter in the sunshine. I'm speaking quite seriously, 

 my friend, and before we go any further I want to 

 win your respect for the brown beans before us, which 

 you have just greeted with scorn. They are the dried 

 seeds from the fruit-pod of a tropical tree; beans 

 such as these are the natural raw product from which 

 all the goodies arrayed before us on this table have 

 been made. Indeed, beans of this kind are the prime 

 source of all the cocoa and chocolate you or anyone 

 else in the world has ever consumed of all the cocoa 

 and chocolate you and millions of other folk in all 

 quarters of the globe hope to continue eating and 

 drinking as some portion of their daily fare. 



" The trees which yield these beans flourish in many 

 parts of the Tropics. I propose that we should set 

 forth on a tour of the raw-cocoa producing countries 

 of the world, where we can visit the little farms and 

 big plantations on which the trees are born and brought 



