with their broad
leaves, form a complete shelter. Three years after planting the
trees yield, and therefore require little attention, or, rather,
receive not any. From an idea that the sun is injurious to the
berry, the tree-tops are suffered to mat together until the whole
becomes dense as thatch-work. The sun never penetrates this, and the
ground below is constantly wet. The trunk of the tree grows
irregularly, without beauty, although perhaps by careful training it
might be made as graceful as an apple tree. The leaf is thin, much
resembling our beech, excepting that it is smooth-edged. The flower
is very small, and the berry grows direct from the trunk or
branches. It is eight inches in length, five in diameter, and shaped
much like a rounded double cone. When ripe, it turns from light
green to a deep yellow, and at that time ornaments the tree finely.
Within the berry is a white acid pulp, and embedded in this are from
thirty to forty seeds, an inch in length, narrow and flat. These
seeds are the cacao of commerce. When the berries are ripe, they are
collected into great piles near the house, are cut open with a
tresado, and the seeds, squeezed carelessly from the pulp, are
spread upon mats to dry in the sun. Before being half dried they are
loaded into canoes in bulk, and transmitted to Para. Some of these
vessels will carry four thousand arrobas, of thirty-two pounds
weight each, and, as if such a bulk of damp produce would not
sufficiently spoil itself by its own steaming during a twenty days'
voyage, the captains are in the habit of throwing upon it great
quantities of water, to prevent its loss of weight. As might be
expected, when they arrive at Para it is little more than a heap of
mould, and it is then little wonder that Para cacao is considered
the most inferior in foreign markets. Cacao is very little drunk
throughout the province, and in the city we never saw it except at
the cafes. It is a delicious drink when properly prepared, and one
soon loses relish for that nasty compound known in the States as
chocolate, whose main ingredients are damaged rice and soap fat. The
cacao trees yield two crops annually, and, excepting in harvest
time, the proprietors have nothing to do but lounge in their
hammocks. Most of these people are in debt to traders in Santarem,
who t