THE CACAO-TREE. 13 



rily break them, and the fruit would fall 

 before it came to maturity. 



" The fruit iscontained in a husk, or shell, 

 which, from an exceedingly small begin- 

 ning, attains in the space of four months to 

 the bigness and shape of a cucumber. The 

 lower end is sharp, and furrowed length- 

 wise like a melon. This shell in the first 

 months is either red or white, or a mixture 

 of red and yellow. This variety of colors 

 makes three sorts of cacao-trees, which 

 have nothing else to distinguish them but 

 this. ... If one cleaves one of these shells 

 lengthways it will appear almost half an 

 inch thick, and its capacity full of choco- 

 late kernels^ the intervals of which, before 

 they are ripe, are filled with a hard white 

 substance, which at length turns into a 

 mucilage of a very grateful acidity. For 

 this reason it is common for people to take 

 some of the kernels with their covers and 

 hold them in their mouths, which is mighty 

 refreshing, and proper to quench thirst. 



