the cacao more solid, and less liable to spoil.

To collect the fruit, those negroes and Indians are employed who have
the sharpest sight, that only the ripe fruit may be gathered. The most
robust and active are chosen to carry it to the places where the beans
are to be shaken out. The aged and maimed are employed to do this. The
operation is performed on a floor well swept, and covered with green
leaves, on which they place the cacao. Some open the pod, and others
strike out the beans with a small piece of wood, which must not be
sharp, lest it should injure them.

The good and bad beans must not be mingled together. There are four
sorts of cacao in every crop; the ripe and in good condition, the
green but sound, the worm-eaten, and the rotten. The first quality is
best, the second is not bad; but the two others should be rejected.

As soon as that which is not fully ripe begins to show specks, it must
be separated. As to the pods which are not perfectly ripe, they should
remain in heaps during three days under green banana leaves, that they
may ripen before they are hulled. When the cacao is stored, great care
is necessary not to leave amongst it pieces of the pod or leaves, or
any other excrementitious particles. This care must be repeated every
time that it is removed from the store, or replaced in it.

The cacao must always be exposed to the sun on the fourth day after it
has been gathered, and this exposure should be daily repeated until it
is perfectly dry. When that is the case, the beans burst on being
squeezed, their shell resounds when struck, and they no longer become
heated when placed in heaps; the latter is the best proof that the
moisture injurious to their preservation is dissipated. If the cacao