HISTORY (i| liiK I Nj. <»K COCOA. 43 



The Xicara. whicli llu,-y naiiu; Tccomatcs, arc made from the 

 long or pcar-shaj)ccl calabash, arc ohv.n tasicfully carved, and are 

 generally used for Coffee and Chocolate : hut as their Iwttoms are 

 round, little carved stands are made to receive them. The 

 Indians of Nicaragua make similar cups from a variety of Cocoa- 

 nut peculiar lo that vicinity, which are celebrated throughout their 

 country for their beauty of shape antl ornament. 



(P'rom Sqiiicr's " Nicaragua.") 



Bancroft, in his " Native Races of the Pacific States." says : 

 " Although no regular coined money was used by the Aztecs, yet 

 several more or less convenient substitutes furnished a medium of 

 circulation. Chjef among these wer e nibs^f the Cacao, * * ♦ 

 this money, known as patlachte, passed current anywhere, and 

 payments were made of it by count up to eight thousand, which 

 constituted a xifpiipilli. Another circulating medium was gold 

 dust, k't.f 'n "inslucent ([uills, that the (jualiiy might be reatlily 

 seen." 



In another pi. ice he tells us. *' Ch<>coJate_ancLjOtheii_4lriilkii_ 

 prepared from Cocoa were uniyersaLf«iV-P"riies amc)ng the Maj^a 

 Nations, and were prepared from the wild and cultivatetl 

 varieties." Oviedo states that at Nicaragua " none but the rich 

 and noble could afford to d rink it, as it was literally d rinking 

 money." 



