28 COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 
parts, because there the stomachs are more apt to faint than here, 
and a cup of chocolatte well confectioned comforts and strengthens 
the stomach. For myself I must say, I used it twelve years con- 
stantly, drinking one cup in the morning, another yet before dinner 
between nine or ten of the clock ; another within an hour or two after 
dinner, and another between four and five in the afternoon; and 
when I was purposed to sit up late to study, I would take another 
cup about seven or eight at night, which would keep me waking till 
about midnight. And if by chance I did neglect any of these accus- 
tomed houres, I presently found my stomach fainty. And with this 
custome I lived twelve years in those parts healthy, without any 
obstructions, or oppilations, not knowing what either ague or feaver 
was.”’ 
Another writer of the seventeenth century, ! describing the various 
products of the New World, says :— 
“But much more beneficial is the Cacao, with which Fruit New 
Spain drives a great Trade; nay, serves for Coin’d Money. When 
they deliver a Parcel of Cacao, they tell them by five, thirty and a 
hundred. Their Charity to the Poor never exceeds above one Cacao- 
Nut. The Trees on which this Fruit grows are divided into four sorts, 
differing in bigness and shape: all of them are very tender, for they 
will not only grow in no place, but on their usual Ground, but cannot 
endure the cold Nights Storms, or excesses of Heat; wherefore the 
Cacao-Trees which grow out of the Fruit that falls off, come to no 
perfection, except in shady and warm Valleys; which is also the 
reason why the Planters of New Spain plant the great Leafy Tree 
Cacaoquanthly (that is, The Mother of the Cacao’s) near the Cacao- 
Tree, that it may the better grow under the Shadow thereof ; in which 
manner whole Woods are planted : In the second year it bears Fruit, 
which is first ripe in January, and again in the midst of Summer. 
1 America: Being the Latest, and Most Accurate Description of the New World. By Arnoldus 
Montanus. Collected by John Ogilby, 1671. 
