. Crusoe's Island; a bird-hunter's story . ve of the true cacao, the chocolate-yieldingbean. The name of this tree is derived from theAztec cacakuatl, and it is the Theobroma cacao ofthe botanists. The trees were some twenty feet in height, andwere bearing well at the time I discovered only on the branches were the great pods grow-ing, but climbing up the trunks, looking like big-bellied rats, red and purple in hue. The fruit—theseed, from which the chocolate is made—is containedin a pod from six to nine inches long and three orfour in diameter, filled with a sweetish pulp, andthere a
. Crusoe's Island; a bird-hunter's story . ve of the true cacao, the chocolate-yieldingbean. The name of this tree is derived from theAztec cacakuatl, and it is the Theobroma cacao ofthe botanists. The trees were some twenty feet in height, andwere bearing well at the time I discovered only on the branches were the great pods grow-ing, but climbing up the trunks, looking like big-bellied rats, red and purple in hue. The fruit—theseed, from which the chocolate is made—is containedin a pod from six to nine inches long and three orfour in diameter, filled with a sweetish pulp, andthere are sometimes three dozen seeds in a pod. Twocrops a year are expected from the cultivated cacao,and my trees then had the remains of the Christmas MY FRIENDS POMONA AND CERES. 87 crop on tlieir limbs, which I quickly gathered andbore to my camp. The trees were shaggy and filled with dead wood,from long neglect, and so I spent several days inpruning them, cutting off the small and surplusbranches in order to throw the sap back into the. Cacao tree and fruit. larger ones where the next seasons fruit could bebenefited by it. I might not be here to gather that crop, to besure, but it was no more than right that I should insome way pay for that I had gathered, and some onewas sure to come after me. 88 CRUSOES ISLAND. Sitting under the shade of my bamboos, I burstopen the pods until I had at least a barrel of seeds inbulk, as yet uncleaned of the adhering pulp andfiber. Having seen the process in other islands, Iknew that I must next allow the seeds to ferment, andso I filled my now empty cracker barrel with themand set them aside for three days, then turned thebarrel over and gave them three days more, afterwhich they were spread out to dry. On the plantations the planters have smooth stonefloors, called bavbacues, upon which the cacao isspread; but I merely stretched some canvas, pro-tecting them from night dews and rains, and in thismanner soon had my crop cleaned and dried. T
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidcrusoesi, booksubjectbirds
