yet smaller, or else by beating it up in a mortar bring it into
the usual form."

A later writer remarks of this process:

"The Indians, from whom we borrow it, are not very nice in
doing it; they roast the kernels in earthen pots, then free
them from their skins, and afterwards crush and grind them
between two stones, and so form cakes of it with their hands."

[Illustration--Drawing: A MEXICAN METATE, OR GRINDING STONE.]

And, further on, in speaking of the Spaniards' mode of preparation, he
says:

"They put them (the kernels) into a large mortar to reduce them
to a gross powder, which they afterwards grind upon a stone.
They make choice of a stone which naturally resists the fire,
from sixteen to eighteen inches broad, and about twenty-seven
or thirty long and three in thickness, and hollowed in the
middle about one inch and a half deep. Under this they place a
pan of coals to heat the stone, so that the heat makes it easy
for the iron roller to make it so fine as to leave neither lump
nor the least hardness."

At the present day, when the beans are plentiful on the cacao estates,
but no machines for manufacture exist, the planters prepare a
palatable drink by roasting the beans on a moving shovel or pan over
the open fire, husking them by the time-honoured plan of tossing in
the breeze, and grinding out on a flat stone in much the same manner