esteemed among the Indians (yea, among the Spaniards), that it
is one of the richest and the greatest traffickes of New Spain.
The chief use of this cocoa is in a drincke which they call
chocholaté, whereof they make great account, foolishly and
without reason: for it is loathsome to such as are not
acquainted with it, having a skumme or frothe that is very
unpleasant to taste, if they be not well conceited thereof. Yet
it is a drincke very much esteemed among the Indians, whereof
they feast noble men as they passe through their country. The
Spaniards, both men and women, that are accustomed to the
country, are very greedy of this chocholaté. They say they make
diverse sortes of it, some hote, some colde, and put therein
much of that chili: yea, they make paste thereof, the which
they say is good for the stomacke, and against the catarre."

But this was not the only medicinal property attributed to "the food
of the gods," for the Aztecs used to prescribe as a cure for
diarrhoea and dysentery a potion prepared of cacao mixed with the
ground bones of their giant ancestors, exhumed in the mountains. Such
a very active principle was sure to make its enemies too, and several
amusing attacks have survived to witness their own refutation. It was
regarded by some as a violent inflamer of the passions, which should
be prohibited to the monks; for, as one writer puts it, "if such an
interdiction had existed, the scandal with which that holy order has
been branded might have proved groundless." As late as 1712, after its
use had become established in this country, the mentor of the
_Spectator_ writes: "I shall also advise my fair readers to be in a
particular manner careful how they meddle with romances, chocolates,
novels, and the like inflamers, which I look upon as very dangerous to
be made use of during this great carnival" (the month of May).