for allowing the vapors to escape, the apparatus being similar to a
coffee-roaster. When the aroma begins to be well developed, the
roasting is known to be finished, and the beans must be turned out,
cooled, and freed by fanning and sifting from their husks. The kernels
are then to be converted into a paste, either by trituration in a
mortar heated to 130 degrees Fahr., or by a powerful mill.[1] The
cacao tree resembles our dwarf apple tree both in body and branches,
but the leaf, which is of a dark green, is considerably broader and
larger. The nuts are of the color and about the size of an almond, and
hang eighteen to thirty together by a slender stringy film, enclosed
in a pod. A ripe pod is of a beautiful yellow, intermixed with crimson
streaks; when dried, it shrivels up and changes to a deep brown; the
juice squeezed from the mucilaginous pulp contained in the husks of
these nuts appears like cream, and has a very grateful taste of a
cordial quality. The nuts have a light pleasant smell, and an
unctuous, bitterish, roughish (not ungrateful) taste. Those of
Nicaragua and Caracas are the most agreeable and are the largest;
those of the French Antilles, and our own West India islands, are the
most unctuous.

The Mexicans, in preparing the chocolate paste, add some long pepper,
a little annatto, and lastly vanilla; some add cinnamon, cloves and
anise, and those who love perfumes, musk and ambergris.

The finest American cacao is said to be that of Soconusco, but the
principal imports are from Caracas and Guayaquil, which is of a very
good quality. The province of Barcelona, adjoining Caracas exports
annually from 200,000 to 300,000 cwt.

The very large shipments from Guayaquil are shown by the following