Coffee and Cacao. 517 



with which a popular beverage is made on the Lower Am- 

 azons. 



MiEiTi, TucuMA, and Mucuja are other palm-fruits, eaten 

 by the natives with farina. The first is sour, and unpala- 

 table to foreigners. The others have a fatty, fibrous pulp. 

 Still another, the Cukua (an Attalea), bears a fruit resem- 

 bling a small cocoa-nut. 



KicE is ciiltivated on the Guajara, near Para, and at 

 Moyobamba. A native rice grows wild along some of the 

 tributaries, but it is not reclaimed. 



Coffee has been introduced on the Amazons, and a very 

 excellent quality has been raised on the Rio Negro and at 

 Moyobamba; but nearly all the coffee used on the river 

 comes from Ceara, Parahyba, and San Paulo. The cost 

 of raising coffee in Java (with shipping charges) is 10 cents 

 a pound ; in Cuba, 9|^ cents ; in Brazil, 8 cents. Since the 

 stoppage of the slave-trade there has been a decrease of 

 cultivation ; and emancipation will result in a further 

 diminution. The average crop in Brazil in 1852 was 256 

 millions of pounds to 146 millions in Java. 



Cacao is a native, and thrives with very little culture. 

 In fact, in the province of Amazonas the Cacao is nearly 

 all wild. The reasons why there ai-e so few plantations 

 are the want of capital, and the length of time required 

 in getting a plantation to pay. The largest plantations are 

 opposite Obidos and Cameta. It is usually grown on the 

 lowlands. A high variety grows on terra firma. Bates 

 saw trees yielding an arroba (thirty-two pounds) each a 

 year. One hundred trees on the average give ten arrobas. 

 There are three crops a year — in March, June, and Sep- 

 tember. The best article is grown in Para and Maranham. 

 The choicest cacao, like the best coffee, is grown in the 

 shade, and is therefore slieltered by rows of bananas. Ex- 

 cepting rubber, cacao is the chief article of exportation. 



