44 
Whether the original home of the Cacao-tree is the Amazo 
Valley or Ecuador, from Esmeraldas to the arid coast of Peru, is 
a question. There are two Cordilleras with * Paramos," or snow 
carried across eastwards and thus into the Orinoco delta and on to 
Trinidad, etc.; Caracas being a centre, the one nearest to 
Guayaquil. 
or plant, as Sigsigbamha (Sigsig=a flowering reed, if I remember 
rightly ; Bamha=a plain). 
9. Amongst the Cacao from Machala comes what is called 
“ Cacao blanco ” (Theobroma bicolor). It is very rare among the 
^ Arriba." The seeds or beans are very similar and the pod 
somewhat similar, but the leaf is different. The cotyledons of 
* Cacao blanco " are white, and when fresh taste like an almond, 
and are very oily. These seeds are, as far as possible, picked out 
market. There is an additional reason for this. Neither rats or 
other animals eat the Cacao bean, as far as I know, but rats are 
very eager to get at the * Cacao blanco " bean 
sack to get at a single bean. But in Spain, and I suppose in 
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of the abundant oil in the bean. Whether the admixture of this 
spurious Cacao tree in the southern plantations is the result of 
negligence or ignorance, or whether it has been made to meet the : 
Spanish taste, I have not as yet formed an opinion, but the = 
odern. Wh E 
Quito was first occupied by the Shirris, a coast tribe from Puna  . 
(the island in the Gulf of Guayas) perhaps, they got to Quito from — 
Bahia (not the Brazilian de San Salvador), due west of Quito. 
De la Condamine in 1738 went also from Guayaquil up the coast, 
and, I believe, as far as I can understand it, got to Quito by the 
track from Esmeraldas, which he struck coming from ia. 
The present route vid Los Rios (called vid Bahahay) was made 
use of by his companions who had preceded him, but the delta 
must then hardly have been fit for cultivation of any sort. i 
Anyhow, the “Cacao blanco" cannot be indigenous to that 
present great centre for the cultivation of Cacao, As far as E 
know, the “Cacao blanco" is never shipped by itself. The 
workmen and employés eat most of them. zd 
The Cacao comes to Guayaquil taken out of the pods and 
fermented and partly dried, This last is better done in Guayaquil, 
