FOOD VALUE AND MANUFACTURE 251 



and cut from solid stone found in the country, which has 

 a " grit " peculiarly suited for the purpose. The roller or 

 grinding stone is worked by a pushing or sliding motion 

 by the operator sitting on the ground. Such stones are 

 common throughout Central American cacao regions, 

 where the writer saw them on sale in markets in 1893 and in 



Fig. 61.— a Primitive Mill. 



Mexico during 1910. When the corn and cacao are ground 

 into a fine soft paste, this is boiled up with a sufficient 

 quantity of water until it forms a thin porridge to which 

 cow's milk and sugar in suitable quantities are added. 

 It is then taken without further addition as the first meal 

 of the day. The writer can fully testify to its sustaining 

 power, having made journeys of some hours, without being 

 unduly fatigued, after breakfasting upon TestS, as the 

 preparation is called in Central America. The meal is 

 generally served in carved calabashes in preference to the 

 use of modern pottery, the woody or horny character of 

 the cup being more pleasant to the lips than china or 

 common ware. These cups are made from the shell of 

 the fruit of the calabash- tree {Cresentia cujete), common 

 in Central America and the West Indies. 



The methods generally employed in Trinidad in manu- 

 facturing chocolate from the cacao bean are extremely 

 simple, and the same in principle as those practised 



