233 



foliage of the erythrina and plantain * ; the 

 fabrication of cakes of ' chocolatl, and the use of 

 the liquid of the same name, by their commu- 

 nications with Mexico, Guatimala, and Nicara- 

 gua, three countries, the inhabitants of which 

 were of Tolteck and Azteck origin. 



Up to the sixteenth century, travellers differ 

 in the opinions they give respecting chocolatl. 

 Benzoni, in his ingenuous style, says, that it is 

 a drink rather da porti, che da huomine, "fitter 

 for hogs than men-}-." The Jesuit AcostaJ 

 asserts, that " the Spaniards, who inhabit 

 America, are fond of chocolate to excess ; but 

 that it requires to be accustomed to that black 

 beverage, not to be sick at the mere sight of it's 

 froth, which swims on it like yeast on a fer- 

 mented liquor." He adds : " the cacao is a 

 prejudice (una superstition) of the Mexicans, as 

 the coca is a prejudice of the Peruvians." 

 These opinions remind us of Madame de Se- 

 vigne's prediction respecting the use of coffee. 

 Ferdinand Cortez, and his page, the gentil- 



* This process of the Mexican cultivators, exactly prac- 

 tised on the coast of Caraccas, is already described in the 

 memoirs known under the title of Belazione di certo Geniiluomo 

 del Signor Cortez, Conquistadore del Messico. (Ramusio, torn. 

 ii ? p. 134.) 



+ Girolamo Benzoni, Milanese, Hist, del Mondo Niiovo, 1572, 

 j). 104. 



I HisU Nat. de Indias, Lib. ic, e. 22 (edit, de 1589), p. 251* 



