31 



CACAO OR COCOA. 



Four white persons, tlioir passage and maintenance 

 Maintenance of six slaves for six months 

 "Working implements .... 



80 

 18 

 5 



£233 



In four to five years the produce of one hundred acres would 

 usually sell for £4,240 sterlmg. This was a monstrous and most 

 unlooked-for return ; but then, what was it to the profits of sugar, 

 which, owing to the prodigious increase of the slave trade, was flist 

 commg into active operation, and eatiug up and destroying all 

 other sources and springs of industry ? How dearly have the 

 "West Indians paid for the short-lived affluence which the sugar 

 cane conferred! 



Blome, in his hrief account of Jamaica, published in 1672, speaks 

 of cacao as being one of the chief articles of export. He states 

 that there were sixty cacao-walks or plantations, and many more 

 planting ; but, for many years, no cacao plantation has existed iia 

 Jamaica, all the chocolate used being made from imported berries, 

 or the chance growth of a munificent climp^te and redundant soil ! 

 Afew scattered trees, Edwards says (and as Imyself know), here and 

 there, are all that remaui of those flourishiug and beautifid. groves, 

 which were once the pride and boast of the country. They have 

 withered with the indigo manufactory, under the heavy hand of 

 ministerial exaction. The excise on cacao, u-lien made into cakes, 

 rose to no less than £12 125. per civt., exclusivetof Ws. W\d. ]jaid 

 at the Custom-house, amounting together to u^ivards of £840 ]3er 

 cent, on its marJcetoMe value ! 



The mode of cultivating the cacao is given at some length by 

 Edwards ; it is that of the (Spaniards, a process strictly followed in 

 Trinidad, where, of all the West India islands, it constitutes a 

 considerable item of exports. It is thus described : — " A spot of 

 level land being chosen — preference is always given to a deep black 

 mould, sheltered by a hedge or thicket, so as to be screened by the 

 wind, especially the north, and cleared of all weeds and stumps of 

 trees — a number of holes are dug, at ten or twelve feet distance 

 from each other, each hole being about a foot in length, and six or 

 eight inches deep. A very important matter is the selection of 

 the seeds for planting, and this is done in the following manner : 

 the finest and largest pods of the cacao are selected when full ripe, 

 and the grains taken out and placed in a vessel of water. Those 

 which swim are rejected ; those chosen are washed clean from the 

 pulp, skinned, and then replaced in the water till they begui to 

 sprout; Banana (3Iusa paradisiaca) , or some other large leaves, 

 those of the sea-side grape ( Goccolola uvifera), for instance, are 

 then taken, and each hole is lined Avith one of them, leaving, how- 

 ever, the sides of the leaves some inches above ground ; after which 

 the mould is rubbed in gently till the hole is fi'Ued ; three nuts are 

 then selected for each hole, and they are set triangularly in the 

 earth, by making a small opening witli the finger about two inches 

 deep, into which the nuts are put, with that end downwards from 



