30 



COrEEE. 



any obstacles in order to be still further extended. It forms a 

 large ingredient in tbe local trade, and furnislies many l)etty 

 traders with their daily bread, not to speak of the landowners, 

 for whom the cultivation of the cacao affords the only subsistence. 

 The preparation of the product difters from that adopted in the 

 West Indies, but we have not been able to ascertain the practice. 

 ^Ye may reckon that 1,200 to 2,000 piculs of 138 lbs. are yearly 

 produced ; the prices vary much, being from 50 to 75 florins per 

 picul. — (" Journal of the Indian ^Irchipelago," vol. ii., p. 829.) 



Boin^bon now produces 15,000 to 20,000 kilogrammes of cacao 

 annually. Cacao is gTown to a small extent in some of the settle- 

 ments of Western Africa, but as yet only a few puncheons have 

 been exported, all the produce being required for local con- 

 sumption. 



The following figures give the imports and consumption of 

 cacao into the United Kingdom in the last five years : — 



Imports. Consumption, 

 lbs. Its. 



1848 . . 6,442,986 



1849 . . 7,769,234 . . 3,233,135 



1850 . . 4,478,252 . . 3,103,926 



1851 . . 6,773,960 . . 3,024,338 



1852 . . 6,268,525 . . 3,382,944 



The home consumption is very steady at about 8,000,000 lbs., 

 }delding to the revenue £15,000 to £16,000 for duty. The pro- 

 duce of British colonies pays Id. per lb. duty, that from foreign 

 countries 2d ; cocoa husks and shells half these amounts ; when 

 manufactured into chocolate or cocoa paste the duty is 2d. per lb. 

 from British possessions, and 6d. from other parts. The quantity 

 imported in this form is to the extent of about 14,000 lbs. 

 weight. 



cori^EE. 



The next staple I proceed to speak of is cofi'ee — second only 

 in importance as a popular beverage to that universal commodity, 

 tea. I shall proceed, in the first instance, to take a retrospect of 

 the progress o-f the coffee trade, and glance at the present con- 

 dition and future prospects of produce and consumption. It will 

 be seen, by reference to the following figures, that the consumption 

 of coffee in the United Kingdom shows a successive decrease, 

 from 1847 to 1850, of 6,414,583 lbs., and a loss to the revenue of 

 £179,614. 



HOME COXSt'MPTION- AXD EE^-EXUE OP COFFEE FOR THE 



Tears. lbs. £ 



1824 8,262,943 420,988 



1825 11,082,970 315,809 



1828 17,127,633 440,245 



1835 23,295,046 652,124 



1839 26,789,945 779,115 



1840 28,728,735 921,551 



1844 31,394,225 681,616 



