HISTORY ASM) ( LF.TIVATION OF Till: IM.ANT. 7 



Tiirninjjj lo ilu- ICisumii hm»i, \'cnczucl;i pnnluccs the Caracas 

 Cocoa, which is well known lo connoisseurs ;is one of the most 

 delicate and delicious in existence. 



This country is traversed by a chain of mountains intersected 

 by little valleys, where the Cocoa tree finds shelter, heat and 

 irrigation, anil also equality of tenij^erature, all of which are 

 essential to its perfect cultivation. This fertile land was discovered 

 by Columbus, and <jccu[)ied by Ojeda and other adventurers, who 

 only travelled over it in order to seize the gold with which the 

 poor Indians adorned themselves, antl for re-peopling the islands 

 for purposes of war. and for working in the mines. In 16^4 the 

 Dutch took possession of the island of Cura<;oa, which they made an 

 entrepot for American produce, and it was they who siimul.ited the 

 Spaniards to the serious cultivation of Cocoa, which has since 

 acc]uired so high a reputation in the markets of the world. 



rhe credit is. however, due more to the Jesuit missionaries 

 than lo the sovereigns who owned the land, for it was they 

 who engaged the natives to form small plantations on the borders 

 of the Orinoco, and lo gather the wild Cocoa of which Father 

 Gumilla. in his " History of Orinoco," says : " I have seen in these 

 plains forests of wild Cocoa trees laden with bunches of j)ods, 

 sup|)lying food to an infmite multitude of monkeys, squirrels, 

 parrots, guacamayas, and other animals." 



In I'rcnch Guiana, Cocoa was scarcely cultivated until about 

 1734, when a forest of Cocoa was discovered on a br.uich of the 

 Yari, which Hows into the Amazon. I'Vom this f«»rist seeds wen* 

 gathered, and planuitions l.iid out in Cayenne. 



The Cocoa of Para and Maranham differs from .ill tnher 

 growths ; the bean is much smaller and more round and elongateti. 



