CACAO. 261 
of different colors. Each pod is divided into five 
longitudinal cells, containing a sweetish, agreeable 
pulp, in which are enveloped the seeds, from twenty 
to thirty in number, a white, pulpy substance in a thin 
shell. When the fruit is mature it is gathered, and 
the seeds removed and dried; sometimes they are 
buried in sand or dry earth for the purpose of absorb- 
ing the moisture and pulp adhering to them. 
Great care is necessary in curing them, as they 
mold easily, and the planters generally provide large 
platforms on wheels, upon which the seeds are spread, 
which they run out from under a shelter, on sunshiny 
days, and keep an old negro on the watch for rain. 
When perfectly dry, the seeds are put in bags for ship- 
ment to England. The native method of preparing 
chocolate from the seeds, is to roast them, and grind 
finely on a warm, smooth stone. When well kneaded 
it forms a tenacious paste, which, with the addition of 
a little sugar, is made into small rolls, or sticks. This, 
in its pure state, is made into a delightful drink; but, 
as prepared in places foreign to the country of its pro- 
duction, is largely adulterated. It is generally flavored 
with vanilla, or some other agreeable extract, this 
being the favorite. 
Happy and contented as the negro may be in his 
wealth of cacao trees, he is sometimes enraged at the 
depredations committed by the forest quadrupeds, for 
the rats, not content with the succulent sugar cane, 
eagerly seek out the sweet pulp of the cacao. Where 
monkeys are abundant, as in Grenada, they commit 
great havoc, not only gnawing holes in the pods as 
they hang on the trees, but carrying away all they 
