235 



spring out even from the ligneous roots, wher- 

 ever the earth leaves them uncovered. It 

 suffers from the North-East winds, even when 

 these winds lower the temperature only a few 

 degrees. The heavy showers, that fall irregu- 

 larly after the rainy season during the winter 

 months, from December to March, are also very 

 hurtful to the cacao-tree. The proprietor of a 

 plantation of fifty thousand trees often loses the 

 value of more than four or five thousand piastres 

 in cacao in one hour. Great humidity is favor- 

 able to the tree only when it augments progres- 

 sively, and is for a long time uninterrupted. If, 

 in the season of drought, the leaves and the 

 young fruit be wetted by a violent shower, the 

 fruit falls from the stem. It appears, that the 

 vessels, which absorb water, break from being 

 rendered turgid. But if the cacao harvest be 

 one of the most uncertain, on account of the 

 fatal effects of intemperate seasons, and the 

 great number of worms, insects, birds, and 

 quadrupeds *, that devour the pod of the cacao- 

 tree ; if this branch of agriculture have the 

 disadvantage of obliging the new planter to wait 

 eight or ten years for the fruit of his labours, 

 and of yielding an article of very difficult pre- 



* The parrots, monkeys, agoutis, squirrels, and stags. 

 (See Depons, vol. ii, p. 182 — 204). 



