38 



COCOA : ALL ABOUT IT. 



" Montezuma took oreat delight in the entertainment, and 

 ordered the broken victuals and pitchers of Cocoa liquor to be 

 distributed among these performers" (jesters, &c.). 



Our knowledge of Cocoa as an article of diet dates from the 

 discovery of the Western world in 1494, by Columbus, who, we 

 are told, took home with him samples of the article ; and from the 

 subjugation of Mexico by Cortes in 1521. History informs us that 

 the Spaniards wer^^he^firs^jvvdio__tast^ which was part 



of their spoil in the conquest of Mexico. Bernardo de Castile, 

 who accompanied Cortes, describing one of Montezuma's banquets, 

 says: " They brought in among the dishes above fifty great jars 

 made of ' Cacao,' with its froth, and drank it," similar jars being 

 served to the guards and attendants " to the number of 2,000 

 at least." 



Copy of an engraving from Dufour's book. 



Prescott, in his " History of the Conquest of Peru," says that 

 "The emperor took no other beverage than the Chocolatl, a potation 

 of Chocolate flavoured with vanilla and other spices, and so prepared 



