8 



THE CHOCOLATE-PLANT. 



the main stem. This might be thought at first to be an error of 

 the artist, but it is in fact a rude expression of one of the most 

 remarkable peculiarities of the plant. As will be shown presently, 

 when a fuller description of the 'plant is given, the fruits are, as a 

 rule, formed on the older parts. Another interesting feature is 

 shown in the engraving: 1 the chocolate-tree is sheltered by a larger 



tree of some other kind near it. We shall see shortly, that this 

 practice of planting a sheltering tree to shade the young chocolate 

 plants for a time, is still kept up wherever the plant is successfully 

 cultivated. It is certainly interesting that this point in cultivation, 

 which might easily have been thought to be accidental or local, was 

 delineated more than three centuries ago. By the natives of tropi- 

 cal America, the seeds of the chocolate-plant, which will be more 



1 The figure in the left of the foreground is said by Bontekoe to represent the 

 native method of procuring fire by rapidly twirling a pointed stick in a groove of a 

 piece of wood placed on the ground. 



