2 COCOA AND CHOCOLATE. 



There is no doubt that, if it had not 

 been for the monopoly of the production 

 which Spain long possessed, and which 

 kept the price, on its first introduction 

 into England, at a point where only the 

 rich could afford to buy it, cocoa would 

 have come into as general use there as it 

 did in Spain, and would, perhaps, have 

 been received with more favor than tea or 

 coffee, which were introduced about the 

 same time. 



It appears that, in the time of Charles 

 II., the price of the best chocolate (very 

 crude, undoubtedly, as compared with 

 the present manufactures), was 6s. 8d. a 

 pound, which, if we take into account the 

 greater purchasing power of money at that 

 time, would be equal to at least $5 a pound 

 at this time for a coarse compound. 



Humboldt estimated the consumption of 

 cocoa in Europe, in 1806, at 23,000,000 

 pounds per annum, of which from 6,000,000 

 to 9,000,000 were supposed to be consumed 



