60 
THE CACAO HAEVE3T. 
colate and the flour of maize, have rendered accessible to 
the traveller the table-lands of the Andes, and vast unin- 
habited forests. 
The cacao harvest is extremely variable. The tree vege- 
tates with such vigour that flowers spring out even from the 
roots, wherever the earth leaves them uncovered. It suffers 
from the north-east winds, even when they lower the tem- 
perature only a few degrees. The heavy showers that fall 
irregularly 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 thou- 
sand piastres in cacao in one hour. Great humidity is 
favourable to the tree only when it augments progressively, 
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 ; for it appears 
that the vessels which absorb water break from being ren- 
dered turgid. Besides, the cacao-harvest is one of the most 
uncertain, on account of the fatal effects of inclement sea- 
sons, and the great number of worms, insects, birds, and 
quadrupeds,* which devour the pod of the cacao-tree ; and 
this branch of agriculture has the disadvantage of obliging 
the new planter to wait eight or ten years for the fruit of 
his labours, and of yielding after all an article of very 
difficult preservation. 
The finest plantations of cacao are found in the province 
of Caracas, along the coast, between Caravalleda and the 
mouth of the Rio Tocuyo, in the valleys of Caucagua, 
Capaya, Curiepe, and Guapo; and in those of Cupira, 
between cape Conare and cape Unare, near Aroa, Bar- 
quesimeto, Guigue, and Uritucu. The cacao that grows 
on the banks of the Uritucu, at the entrance of the llanos, in 
the jurisdiction of San Sebastian de las Reyes, is considered 
to be of the finest quality. Next to the cacao of Uritucu 
comes that of Guigue, of Caucagua, of Capaya, and of 
Cupira. The merchants of Cadiz assign the first rank to 
the cacao of Caracas, immediately after that of Socomusco ; 
and its price is generally from thirty to forty per cent, 
higher than that of Guayaquil. 
* Parrots, monkeys, agoutis, squirrels, and stags. 
