EXPEDITION TO SURINAM. 



The fruit is about the fame fize, and when young refem- 

 bles a cucumber ; but when ripe it becomes yellow like 

 a large lemon, with ribs like the melon, and tubercles 

 which enclofe the feed or nuts, near thirty ui number : 

 they lie longitudinally in the fruit, and when fit for ufe 

 are of the fize of olives, and purple-coloured. The trees 

 are fuppofed to bear at each crop from thirty to three 

 hundred pods, each containing about thirty nuts, weigh- 

 ing one pound, from which a calculation naay be made 

 how much will be the produce of each harvefi:. After a 

 few days the nuts are extracted from the pods, and dried 

 in the fhade ; during which time they undergo a very 

 ftrong perfpiration, when they are put into barrels and fit 

 for tranfportation, to be converted into that well-known 

 and agreeable beverage called Chocolate. 



It is faid the cacao-trees are natives of Guiana, and 

 grow wild in large quantities near the river Amazon : be 

 that as it may. Governor Chatillofi'^ fon planted the firft 

 tree in Surinam in 1684, and the firil crop was exported 

 to Holland in 1733. A great advantage in cultivating 

 cacao-trees is, that fewer flaves are required than in any 

 other branch of the planting bulinefs. How confider- 

 able are the proSts vv'ill appear by the accounts of the 

 year 1774, when 506,610 lbs. were exported to Amfter- 

 dam alone, which produced 202,614/. Dutch money, 

 being equal to ^. 18,419 fterling. The prices have been 

 fiu<5tuat;ing from \d.\.Q gd.perlb, the average being 

 6 ' about 



