eaves about to fall, with the cacao, as with some rose trees, it is
the tint of the young leaves.

[Illustration: CACAO PODS.]

_The Cacao Pod._

The fruit, which hangs on a short thick stalk, may be anything in shape
from a melon to a stumpy, irregular cucumber, according to the botanic
variety. The intermediate shape is like a lemon, with furrows from end
to end. There are pods, called Calabacillo, smooth and ovate like a
calabash, and there are others, more rare, so "nobbly" that they are
well-named "Alligator." The pods vary in length from five to eleven
inches, "with here and there the great pod of all, the blood-red
_sangre-tora_." The colours of the pods are as brilliant as they are
various. They are rich and strong, and resemble those of the rind of the
pomegranate. One pod shows many shades of dull crimson, another grades
from gold to the yellow of leather, and yet another is all lack-lustre
pea-green. They may be likened to Chinese lanterns hanging in the woods.
One does not conclude from the appearance of the pod that the contents
are edible, any more than one would surmise that tea-leaves could be
used to produce a refreshing drink. I say as much to the planter, who
smiles. With one deft cut with his machete or cutlass, which hangs in a
leather scabbard by his side, the planter severs the pod from the tree,
and with another slash cuts the thick, almost woody rind and breaks open
the pod. There is disclosed a mass of some thirty or forty beans,
covered with juicy pulp. The inside of the rind and the mass of beans
are gleaming white, like melting snow. Sometimes the mass is pale
amethyst in colour. I perceive a pleasant odour resembling melon. Like
little Jack Horner, I put in my thumb and pull out a snow-white bean. It
is slippery to hold, so I put it in my mouth. The taste is sweet,
something between grape and melon. Inside this fruity coating is the
bean proper. From different pods we take beans and cut them in two, and
find that the colour of the bean varies from purple almost to white.

[Illustration: CUT POD, REVEALING THE WHITE PULP ROUND THE BEANS
(CEYLON.)]

[Illustration: CACAO PODS, SHEWING BEANS INSIDE.]

_Botanical Description._

Theobroma Cacao belongs to the family of the _Sterculiaceae_, and to the
same order as the Limes and Mallows. It is described in Strasburger's
admirable _Text-Book of Botany_ as follows:

"Family. _Sterculiaceae._

IMPORTANT GENERA. The most im