294 CACAO 



address his patron saint on such occasions. He never addressed that saint at 

 other times. 



" There are a few planters I know of, who have passed such troublous tames, 

 and have never sold black cocoa or thrown away any that got rotten in the 

 drying process. The great secret is not to allow the cocoa to get wet, and to 

 scrape the flooring of the cocoa house constantly to keep it dry and clean, and 

 to heap the cocoa at night.* The heat through evaporation attendant on this 

 heaping of the cocoa will help the drying of it. A certain quality of red dirt 

 is used to give the beans that cinnamon colour or to preserve it. This dirt is 

 applied when there is still a particle of glue attached to the beans. This process 

 is largely used in my country, Senor, but only the manufacturers in Europe or 

 America, I suppose, can say whether or not they Uke it or it is good. It appears 

 now they like it. A cocoa dealer of our day to give a uniform colour to the 

 miscellaneous brands he has purchased from Pedro, Dick, or Sammy will wash 

 the beans in a heap, with a mixture of starch, sour oranges, gum arabio and 

 red ochre. This mixture is always boiled. I can recommend the ' Chinos ' 

 in this dodge, who are all adepts in all sorts of ' adulteration ' schemes. They 

 even add some grease to this mixture so as to give the beans that brilliant gloss 

 which you see sometimes. The bois I'homme bark is also used. Some brother 

 planters, when they find their cocoa has a dirty hue, use the very hava of 

 the cocoa as a wash to improve it. This hava can be got by cutting some green 

 pods and soaking them in water for a few hours. The hava can be collected 

 easily from the juice of the cocoa which is put to sweat. 



15. Overseering. — " My idea of a good overseer. Maestro, is the active 

 Majordomo who rises at 5 o'clock every morning, even before the labourers 

 and his own driver, who in a few minutes will have looked round the cocoa 

 house, inspected the stock and do many other minor duties to the satisfaction 

 of himself and his employer. Then, he would give the driver his orders for 

 the day and retire to take his cofiee. Having partaken of this, which is a small 

 breakfast in itself, as he will not return to his home before 12 or 1 p.m., my 

 intelligent majordomo will don his leggings and his poniard and start for the 

 field, where he can see how the work is going on. He must do the work as 

 cheaply as possible and in a manner creditable to himself. When Juan 

 Caohuping comes to lay a complaint against my overseer, or Bamdas Maraj 

 on the sly will disrate his quality, I generally prefer to give leave of absence 

 to complainants. When I hear Julian on the other hand praise him too much, 

 I then make an inquiry. A good Majordomo is not Uked by the showy, talkative, 

 and meddlesome peone. Job-work pays an estate pretty well, amigo, as less 

 supervision is required. Almost every work on a plantation can be done by 

 ' job,' from the felling of the forest to the drying of the cocoa. I, however, 

 will always sell the golden bean myself, and, to make sure, seE it locally than 

 ship it to be sold in Europe. 



16. Parasites. — " Cocoa-trees in some places, notably in cold spots, sufier 

 from moss. Draining at once becomes necessary. Ventilation must be 

 allowed too. The moss is removed by scraping it with a dandy brush or with 

 a sharp-edged piece of hard wood or bamboo. This deslima process is necessary 

 to any sort of tree. The guatepajaro and other parasitic vines must be removed, 

 and also the pines. When the trees are covered with these thw do not give 

 good results, and will give less year by year until they die. I consider the 

 removal of these vines one of the principal works on a plantation. Si, senor, 

 let us take a walk to Mi Amor, you will not find a guatepajaro there. The 

 average yield of cocoa per thousand trees is 10 bags. My estate gives me 

 15 bags. I know of several covered with guatepajaro, which only gives from 

 5 to 10 bags per thousand. 



17. Contractors. — " Amigo, before you leave let me tell you about contractors. 

 You must also take the despidido. Contractors for planting are good and they 



* Preventing the growth of fungi. — J. H. H. 



