102 WONDERS OF THE TROPICAL FORESTS. 
Iieadlong to the ^z^ouncl, the falling timber forcing down 
those beneath it bj its weight, and dragging those behind 
to which it is Iiarnessed. The crash occasioned by this 
startling operation is so load that it is andible for two or 
three miles in the clear and still atmosphere of the hills. 
Like the sugar-cane, or indeed any other plant cultivated 
by man, the coffee-tree is exposed to the ravages of many 
enemies. Wild cats, monkeys, and sqmTrels prey upon 
the ripening ben'ies, and hosts of caterpillars feed upon 
the leaves. Since 1S47 the Ceylon plantations have been 
several times invaded by swarms of the Golundaj a species 
of rat which inhabits the forests, making its nest among 
tlie roots of the trees, andj like the lemmings of Jiapland, 
migrating in vast numbers when the seeds of the nillo- 
shriib, its ordinary food, are exhausted, " In order to 
reach the buds and blossoms of the coffee, the Golunda eats 
such slender branches as would not snstain its weight, and 
feeds as they fall to the ground ; and so delicate and shai'p 
are its incisors, that the twigs thus destroyed are detached 
by as clean a cut as if severed with a knife." 
Another great enemy of the Ceylon planters is a species 
of coccifs, which establislies itself on young shoots and 
buds, covering them with a noisome incrustation of scales, 
from the influence of which the fruit shrivels and drops 
off. A great part of the crop is sometimes lost, and on 
many trees not a single berry forms from the invasion of 
this insect plagae. 
Theobroma— food for gods — the Greek name given by 
Linnams to the cacao or chocohite tree, sufficiently proves 
bow highly he valued the flavour of its seeds. 
Indigenous in Mexico, it had long been in extensive 
cnlfcivation before the arrival of the Spaniards, who found 
the beverage which the Indians prepared from its beans so 
agreeable tliat they reckoned it among the most pleasing 
fruits of their conquest, and lost no time in making their 
European friends acquainted with its use. From Mexico 
they transplanted it into their other dependencies, so that 
