22 



CACAO OR COCOA. 



propagated by nature. Though they were overshadowed by larger 

 trees, and had for many years been neglected, they had reached 

 nevertheless a height of from thirty to forty feet, and the luxu- 

 riant growth and the abundance of fruit, proved that the plant 

 was satisfied with the soil. The forests at the banks of the Rio 

 Branco, in the vicinity of Santa Maria and Carno, abound in wild 

 cacao trees, the fruits of which are collected by the scanty popu- 

 lation of that district for their own use." 



The cultivation of cacao will be most suitable to the less wealthy 

 individual, as it demands so little labor and outlay. Baron 

 Humboldt observes, in alluding to Spanish America, that cacao plan- 

 tations are occupied by persons of humble condition, who prepare 

 for themselves and their children a slow but certain fortune ; a 

 single laborer is sufficient to aid them in their plantations, and 

 30,000 trees, once established, assure competence for a generation 

 and a half. 



The following have been the total imports of Cacao into the 

 United Kingdom from Mexico and Central America, &c. : 



Ibs. Ibs. 



1832 85,642 1839 . 508,307 



1834 16,171 1840 . 1,058,015 



1835 211 1841 . 1,802,547 



1836 861,531 1842 . 441,084 



1837 564,992 1843 . 1,229.515 



1838 1,681,965 (Parl. Paper, No. 426, Scss. 1844.) 



Only a few hundred pounds of this is entered annually for home 

 consumption, the great bulk being re-exported. 



In 1850 we imported 1,204,572 Ibs. from Mexico ; 1,231,773 Ibs. 

 from Chile ; 4,438 Ibs. from Venezuela, and 23,538 Ibs. from Hayti. 



BRAZIL. A great deal of cacao is raised in different parts of 

 this empire. From the province of Para alone 35,000 bags, valued 

 at 35,000, were exported in the year 1845. Mr. Edwards, in 

 his " Voyage up the River Amazon," gives an interesting ac- 

 count : 



" We were now (he says) in the great cacao region, which, for an extent of 

 several hundred square miles, borders the river. The cacao trees are low, not 

 rising above fifteen or twenty feet, and are distinguishable from a distance by 

 the yellowish green of their leaves, so different from aught else around them. 

 They are planted at intervals of about twelve feet, and, at first, are protected 

 from the sun's fierceness by banana trees, which, with their broad leaves, form 

 a complete shelter. Three years after planting the troths yield, and therefore 

 require little attention, or, rather, receive not any. From an idea that the sun 

 is injurious to the berry, the tree-tops are suffered to mat together until the 

 whole becomes dense as thatch-work. The sun never penetrates this, and tho 

 ground below is constantly wet. The trunk of the tree grows irregularly, 

 without beauty, although perhaps by careful training it might be made as 

 graceful as an apple tree. The leaf is thin, much resembling our beech, except- 

 ing that it is smooth-edged. Tho flower is very small, and the berry grows 

 direct from the trunk or brandies. It is eight inches in length, five in diameter, 

 and shaped much like a rounded double cone. When ripe, it turns from light 

 green to a deep yellow, and at that time ornaments the tree finely. Within the 

 a while acid pulp, and embedded in this are from thirty to forty seeds, 

 an inch in length, narrow and flat. These seeds are the cacao of commerce. 

 When the berries are ripe, they are collected into great piles near the house, 



