THE CACAO-TREE. 11 



placed in about the following order of 

 merit : Soconusco (Mexico) andEsmeralda, 

 (Ecuador), mostly, it is said, consumed at 

 home ; Caracas and Puerto Cabello (Vene- 

 zuela) ; Trinitario ; Magdalena and Car- 

 thagena, New Granada ; Para ; Bahia. 1 



The British West Indies appear to take 

 the lead among the producers for exporta- 

 tion ; Ecuador stands second, Venezuela 

 third, and Brazil fourth. The larger part 

 of the Brazilian crop goes to France ; and 

 the larger part of the Ecuadorian to 

 Spain. 



A French officer who served in the West 

 Indies for a period of fifteen years, during 

 the early part of the last century, wrote, as 

 the result of his personal observations, a 

 treatise on "The Natural History of Choco- 

 late, being a distinct and particular Account 

 of the Cacao-Tree, its Growth and Culture, 



J Spon's Encyclopaedia, etc., Div. II. 



