tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">AMERICAN INDIAN WITH CHOCOLATE POT

71 NATIVE AMERICANS PREPARING COCOA to face 72 A CACAO PLANTATION 75 GRENADA: CACAO DRYING ON TRAYS to face 77 MEXICAN DRINKING-VESSELS AND WHISK 78 CACAO TREE, TRINIDAD to face 80 MEXICAN COCOA WHISK 83 WHITE'S COCOA HOUSE to face  87 CHART OF COCOA-PRODUCING COUNTRIES (COLOURED) to face  91 SACKS OF CACAO BEANS     " 91 MARACAS VALLEY, TRINIDAD     " 92 MAP OF TRINIDAD (COLOURED)     " 95      "      GRENADA, BRITISH WEST INDIES     " 96 CACAO ESTATE, GRENADA to face 96 MAP OF PRINCIPE 97      "     S. THOMÉ 98 CEYLON: CARTING CACAO TO RAIL        to face  99 MAP OF CEYLON     99      "     SAMOA 100 SAMOA, CLEARING FOR CACAO to face 100 MEXICAN GRINDING-STONE 104

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"THE FOOD OF THE GODS."

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I. ITS NATURE.

When one thinks of the marvellously nourishing and stimulating virtue of cocoa, and of the exquisite and irresistible dainties prepared from it, one cannot wonder that the great Linnæus should have named it theo broma, "the food of the gods." No other natural product, with the exception of milk, can be said to serve equally well as food or drink, or to possess nourishing and

stimulating properties in such well-adjusted proportions. Few, however, realize that in its stimulating properties cocoa ranks ahead of coffee, though below tea. As a matter of fact, the active principles of all three are alkaloids, practically identical and equally effective.[1] Each derives its value from its influence on the nervous system, which it stimulates, while checking the waste of tissue, but the cocoa-bean provides in addition solid food to replace wasted tissue. It is, indeed, so closely allied in composition to pure dried milk, that in this respect there is little to choose between an absolutely pure cocoa essence and the natural fluid.[2] It

is this which makes it invaluable as an alternative food for invalids or infants.

An early English writer on this valuable product spoke truly when he