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   Spelling is inconsistent and has been neither modernised nor
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THE
Natural HISTORY
OF
CHOCOLATE:

BEING

A Distinct and Particular Account of the COCOA-TREE, its Growth and
  Culture, and the Preparation, Excellent Properties, and Medicinal
  Vertues of its Fruit.

Wherein the Errors of those who have wrote upon this Subject are
  discover'd; the Best Way of Making CHOCOLATE is explain'd; and
  several Uncommon MEDICINES drawn from it, are communicated.

_Translated from the last EDITION of the _French_,
_By_ R. BROOKES, M. D._







The SECOND EDITION.

_LONDON:_

Printed for J. ROBERTS, near the _Oxford-Arms_ in _Warwick-Lane_.
M DCC.XXX.




PREFACE


If the Merit of a Natural History depends upon the Truth of the Facts
which are brought to support it, then an unprejudiced Eye-Witness is
more proper to write it, than any other Person; and I dare even flatter
myself, that this will not be disagreeable to the Publick
notwithstanding its Resemblance to the particular Treatises of
_Colmenero_[1], _Dufour_[2], and several others who have wrote upon the
same Subject. Upon examination, so great a Difference will appear, that
no one can justly accuse me of having borrow'd any thing from these
Writers.

This small Treatise is nothing but the Substance and Result of the
Observations that I made in the _American Islands_, during the fifteen
Years which I was obliged to stay there, upon the account of his
Majesty's Service. The great Trade they drive there in _Chocolate_,
excited my Curiosity to examine more strictly than ordinary into its
Origin, Culture, Properties, and Uses. I was not a little surprized when
I every day discover'd, as to the Nature of the Plant, and the Customs
of the Country, a great Number of Facts contrary to the Ideas, and
Prejudices, for which the Writers on this Subject have given room.

For this reason, I resolved to examine every thing myself, and to
represent nothing but as it really was in Nature, to advance nothing but
what I had experienced, and even to doubt of the Experiments themselves,
till I had repeated them with the utmost Exactness. Without these
Precautions, there can be no great Dependance on the greatest Part of
the Facts, which are produced by those who write upon any Historical
Matter from Memorandums; which, from the Nature of the Subject, they
cannot fully comprehend.

As for my Reasonings upon the Nature, Vertues, and Uses of Chocolate,
perhaps they may be suspected by some People, because they relate to an
Art which I do not profess; but let that be as it will, the Facts upon
which they are founded are certain, and every one is at liberty to make
what other Inferences they like best.

As there are several Names of Plants, and Terms of Art used in those
Countries, which I have been obliged to make use of, and which it was
necessary to explain somewhat at large, that they might be rightly
understood; rather than make frequent Digressions, and interrupt the
Discourse, I have thought fit to number these Terms, and to explain them
at the End of this Treatise: the Reader must therefore look forward for
those Remarks under their particular Numbers.


FOOTNOTES:

[1] De Chocolata Inda.

[2] Du The, du Caffe, & du Chocolat.




THE TABLE.


The First PART.

  Chap. I. The Description of the _Cocao-Tree_.                 Pag. 2

  Chap. II. Of the Choice and Disposition of the Place
    to plant a Nursery.                                             10

  Chap. III. Of the Method of Planting a Nursery, and of
    its Cultivation, till the Fruit comes to Maturity.              16

  Chap. IV. Of the gathering the _Cocao-Nuts_, and of the
    Manner of making the Kernels sweat; and also of drying
    them that they may be transported into _Europe_.                24


The Second PART.

  Of the Properties of Chocolate.                                   38

  Chap. I. Of the old Prejudices against Chocolate.                 39

  Chap. II. Of the real Properties of Chocolate.                    44

  Sect. I. Chocolate is very Temperate.                             45

  Sect. II. Chocolate is very nourishing, and of easy Digestion.    47

  Sect. III. Chocolate speedily repairs the dissipated Spirits
    and decayed Strength.                                           51

  Sect. IV. Chocolate is very proper to preserve Health, and
    to prolong the Life of old Men.                                 56


The Third PART.

  Of the Uses of Chocolate.                                         60

  Chap. I. Of Chocolate in Confections.                             61

  Chap. II. Of Chocolate properly so called.                        62

  Sect. I. Of the Origin of Chocolate, and the different
    Methods of preparing it.                                        63

  The Method of preparing Chocolate used in the _French_
    Islands of _America_.                                           67

  Sect. II. Of the Uses that may be made of Chocolate, with
    relation to Medicine.                                           70

  Chap. III. Of the Oil or Butter of Chocolate.                     74

  Remarks upon some Places of this Treatise.                        80

  Medicines in whose Composition Oil, or Butter of Chocolate,
    is made use of.                                                 91

  The wonderful Plaister for the curing of all Kinds of Ulcers.  ibid.

  An excellent Pomatum for the Cure of Tettars, Ringworms,
    Pimples, and other Deformities of the Skin.                     94

       *       *       *       *       *

The APPROBATION of Monsieur _Andry_, Counsellor, Lecturer, and Regal
  Professor, Doctor, Regent of the Faculty of Medicine at _Paris_, and
  Censor Royal of Books.

I Have read, by order of the Lord Keeper of the Seals, this _Natural
History of Chocolate_, and I judge that the Impression will be very
necessary and useful for the Publick. Given at _Paris_ this 5th of
_April, 1719_.




THE
Natural HISTORY
OF
CHOCOLATE.




Of the Division of this Treatise.


I Shall divide this Treatise on Chocolate into three Parts: In the
_First_, after I have given a Description of the _Cocao Tree_, I shall
explain how it is cultivated, and give an Account how its Fruit is
prepared: In the _Second_, I shall speak of the Properties of
_Chocolate_; and in the _Third_, of its Uses.






PART I.




CHAP. I.

The Description of the _Cocao-Tree_.


The _Cocao-Tree_ is moderately tall and thick, and either thrives, or
not, according to the Quality of the Soil wherein it grows: Upon the
Coast of _Caraqua_, for instance, it grows considerably larger than in
the Islands belonging to the _French_.

Its _Wood_ is porous, and very light; the _Bark_ is pretty firm, and of
the Colour of _Cinnamon_, more or less dark, according to the Age of the
Tree. The _Leaves_ are about nine Inches long, and four in breadth,
where they are broadest; for they grow less towards the two Extremities,
where they terminate in a point: their Colour is a little darkish, but
more bright above than underneath; they are joined to Stalks three
Inches long, and the tenth part of an Inch broad. This Stalk, as it
enters the Leaf, makes a strait Rib, a little raised along the Middle,
which grows proportionably less the nearer it comes to the End. From
each side of this Rib proceed thirteen or fourteen crooked Threads
alternately.

As these Leaves only fall off successively, and in proportion as others
grow again, this Tree never appears naked: It is always flourishing, but
more especially so towards the two _Solstices_, than in the other
Seasons.

The _Blossoms_, which are regular and like a Rose, but very small, and
without smell, proceed from the Places from which the old Leaves fall,
as it were in Bunches. A large Quantity of these fall off, for hardly
Ten of a Thousand come to good, insomuch that the Earth underneath seems
cover'd over with them.

Every _Blossom_ is joined to the Tree by a slender Stalk half an Inch or
a little more in length; when it is yet in the Bud, it is one Fifth of
an Inch broad, and about one fourth or a little more in length: when it
was least, in proportion to the Tree and the Fruit, the more strange it
appeared to me, and more worthy of Attention[a].

When the Buds begin to blow, one may consider the _Calix_, the
_Foliage_, and the Heart of the Blossom. The _Calix_ is formed of the
Cover of the Bud, divided into five Parts, or Leaves, of a very pale
flesh-colour. These are succeeded by the five true Leaves of the same
Colour, which fill up the empty Spaces or Partitions of the _Calix_.
These Leaves have two Parts, the undermost of which is like an oblong
Cup, striped with Purple; on the inside, it bends towards the Center by
the help of a _Stamen_, which serves to fasten it; from this proceeds
outwardly, the other Part of the Leaf, which seems to be separate from
it, and is formed like the End of a Pike.

The Heart is composed of five Threads and five _Stamina_, with the
_Pistilla_ in the middle. The Threads are strait, and of a purple
Colour, and placed over-against the Intervals of the Leaves. The
_Stamina_ are white, and bend outwardly with a kind of a Button on the
top, which insinuates itself into the middle of each Leaf to sustain
itself.

When one looks at these small Objects through a Microscope, one is ready
to say, That the Point of the Threads is like Silver, and that the
_Stamina_ are Chrystal; as well as the _Pistilla_, which Nature seems to
have placed in the Center, either to be the _Primitiae_ of the young
Fruit, or to serve to defend it, if it be true that this Embryo unfolds
itself, and is produced in no other place but the Base.

For want of observing these small Parts, as well as the Bulk of the
Blossom, _F. Plumier_ had no distinct Knowledge of them, nor has he
exactly design'd them, any more than _Mons. Tournefort_, who has done
them after his Draught[b].

The _Cocao-Tree_ almost all the Year bears Fruit of all Ages, which
ripen successively, but never grow on the end of little Branches, as our
Fruits in _Europe_ do, but along the Trunk and the chief Boughs, which
is not rare in these Countries, where several Trees do the like; such as
the [1]_Cocoeiers_, the [2]_Apricots_ of St. _Domingo_, the
[3]_Calebashes_, the [4]_Papaws_, &c.

Such an unusual Appearance would seem strange in the Eyes of
_Europeans_, who had never seen any thing of that kind; but if one
examines the Matter a little, the philosophical Reason of this
Disposition is very obvious. One may easily apprehend, that if Nature
had placed such bulky Fruit at the Ends of the Branches, their great
Weight must necessarily break them, and the Fruit would fall before it
came to Maturity.

The Fruit of the _Cocao-Tree_ is contained in a Husk or Shell, which
from an exceeding small Beginning, attains, in the space of four Months,
to the Bigness and Shape of a Cucumber; the lower End is sharp and
furrow'd length-ways like a Melon[c].

This Shell in the first Months is either red or white, or a Mixture of
red and yellow: This Variety of Colours makes three sorts of
_Cocao-Trees_, which have nothing else to distinguish them but this,
which I do not think sufficient to make in reality three different kinds
of _Cocao-Nuts_[d].

The First is of a dark vinous Red, chiefly on the sides, which becomes
more bright and pale as the Fruit ripens.

The Second, which is the White, or rather is at first of so pale a
Green, that it may be mistaken for White; by little and little it
assumes a Citron Colour, which still growing deeper and deeper, at
length becomes entirely yellow.

The Third, which is Red and Yellow mix'd together, unites the Properties
of the other two; for as they grow ripe, the Red becomes pale, and the
Yellow grows more deep.

I have observed that the white Shells are thicker and shorter than the
other, especially on the side towards the Tree, and that these sorts of
Trees commonly bear most.

If one cleaves one of these Shells length-ways, it will appear almost
half an Inch thick, and its Capacity full of Chocolate Kernels; the
Intervals of which, before they are ripe, are fill'd with a hard white
Substance, which at length turns into a Mucilage of a very grateful
Acidity: For this reason, it is common for People to take some of the
Kernels with their Covers, and hold them in their Mouths, which is
mighty refreshing, and proper to quench Thirst. But they take heed of
biting them, because the Films of the Kernels are extreamly bitter.

When one nicely examines the inward Structure of these Shells, and
anatomizes, as it were, all their Parts; one shall find that the Fibres
of the Stalk of the Fruit passing through the Shell, are divided into
five Branches; that each of these Branches is subdivided into several
Filaments, every one of which terminates at the larger End of these
Kernels, and all together resemble a Bunch of Grapes, containing from
twenty to thirty-five single ones, or more, ranged and placed in an
admirable Order.

I cannot help observing here, what Inconsistency there is in the
Accounts concerning the Number of Kernels in each Shell. [e]_Dampier_,
for instance, says there is commonly near a Hundred; other Moderns[f]
60, 70 or 80, ranged like the Seeds of a Pomgranate. [g]_Thomas Gage_,
30 or 40; _Colmenero_[h] 10 or 12; and _Oexmelin_[i] 10 or 12, to 14.

I can affirm, after a thousand Tryals, that I never found more nor less
than twenty-five. Perhaps if one was to seek out the largest Shells in
the most fruitful Soil, and growing on the most flourishing Trees, one
might find forty Kernels; but as it is not likely one should ever meet
with more, so, on the other hand, it is not probable one should ever
find less than fifteen, except they are abortive, or the Fruit of a Tree
worn out with Age in a barren Soil, or without Culture.

When one takes off the Film that covers one of the Kernels, the
Substance of it appears; which is tender, smooth, and inclining to a
violet Colour, and is seemingly divided into several Lobes, tho' in
reality they are but two; but very irregular, and difficult to be
disengaged from each other, which we shall explain more clearly in
speaking of its Vegetation. [k]_Oexmelin_ and several others have
imagined, that a _Cocao_-Kernel was composed of five or six Parts
sticking fast together; Father _Plumier_ himself fell into this Error,
and has led others into it[l]. If the Kernel be cut in two length-ways,
one finds at the Extremity of the great end, a kind of a longish
[m]Grain, one fifth of an Inch long, and one fourth Part as broad, which
is the _Germ_, or first Rudiments of the Plant; but in _European_
Kernels this Part is placed at the other end.

One may even see in _France_ this Irregularity of the Lobes, and also
the _Germ_ in the Kernels that are roasted and cleaned to make
Chocolate.


FOOTNOTES:

[a] _Piso_ says (_Montiss. Aromat. cap. 18._) that the Blossom is great
and of a bright Yellow, _Flos est magnus & flavescens instar Croci_. A
modern Author has transcribed this. Error of _Piso_; _Floribus_, says
he, _magnis pentapetalis & flavis_. _Dale_ Pharmacologia, _Pag. 441_.

[b] Appen. Rei Herbariae. _pag._ 660. _tab._ 444.

[1] [2] [3] [4] See the Remarks at the End of this Treatise.

[c] _Benzo_ says they grow ripe in a Year, as well as others after him,
_Annuo Spatio maturescit, Benzo memorante_. Carol. Cluzio, l. c. _Annuo
justam attingens Maturitatem Spatio_. Franc. Hernandes, _apud_ Anton.
Rech. _In Hist. Ind. Occidental_, lib. 5. c. 1.

[d] It seems likely that the _Spanish_ Authors who say there are four
Kinds of this at _Mexico_, have no better Foundation for the difference
than this; and Mons. _Tournefort_ had reason to say after Father
_Plumier_, that he only knew one Kind of this Tree. Cacao _Speciem
Unicam novi_. _Append. Rei Herb._ pag. 660.

[e] _A new Voyage round the World._ Tom. 1. Ch. 3. p. 69.

[f] Pomet's _General History of Drugs_, Book vii. Ch. xiv. pag. 205.
Chomel's _Abridgment of usual Plants_. Valentin. Hist. Simplicium
reform. lib. 2.

[g] New Relation of the _East Indies_. Tom. 1. Part 2. Ch. 19.

[h] A curious Discourse upon Chocolate, by _Ant. Colmenero de Cedesma_,
Physician and Chirurgeon at _Paris_ 1643.

[i] _The History of Adventures._ Tom. 1. Pag. 423.

[k] Ibid.

[l] In multas veluti Amygdalas fissiles. _Tournefort_ in Append. Rei
Herb. _Pag. 660. & Tab. 444._

[m] I can't imagine upon what Foundation _Oexmelin_ could assert, that
the _Spaniards_ in the making of their Chocolate, used nothing but this
longish Grain, which he calls _Pignon_. Au Milieu desquelles Amandes de
Cacao, est, _says he_, un petit Pignon, qui a la Germe fort tendre, &
difficile a conserver; c'est de cette Semence que les Espaniols font la
celebre Boisson de Chocolat. _Oexmelin_ Histoire des Avanturers, _Tom.
1. pag. 423_. He confirms more plainly the same Fancy, _Pag. 426_.




CHAP. II.

Of the Choice and Disposition of the Place for Planting _Cocao-Trees_.


The _Cocao-Tree_ grows naturally in several Countries in _America_ under
the Torrid Zone, but chiefly at _Mexico_, in the Provinces of
_Nicaragua_ and _Guatimala_, as also along the Banks of the River of the
_Amazons_[n]. Likewise upon the Coast of _Caraqua_, that is to say,
from Comana to Cartagena[o] and the _Golden Island_. Some also have
been found in the Woods of _Martinico_.

The _Spaniards_ and _Portuguese_ were the first to whom the _Indians_
communicated the Use of _Cocao-Nuts_, which they kept a long time to
themselves without acquainting other Nations with it; who in reality
know so little of it at this day, that some _Dutch_ Corsairs, ignorant
of the Value of some Prizes they had taken, out of contempt cast the
Merchandize into the Sea, calling it in derision, in very indifferent
_Spanish_, _Cacura de Carnero_[p], The Dung of Beasts.

In 1649[q] in the _Vert_ Islands, they had never seen but one Tree
planted, which was in the Garden of an _English-Man_, an Inhabitant of
the Island of _St. Croix_[r]. In 1655, the _Caribeans_[s] shewed to M.
_du Parepet_ a _Cocao-Tree_ in the Woods of the Island of _Martinico_,
whereof he was Governour. This discovery was the Foundation of several
others of the same kind, in the Woods of the _Cape Sterre_[t] of this
Island. And it is probable that the Kernels which were taken out of
them, were the Original of those _Cocao-Trees_ that have been planted
there since. A _Jew_ named _Benjamin_ planted the first about the Year
1660, but it was not till twenty or twenty-five Years after, that the
Inhabitants of _Martinico_ apply'd themselves to the Cultivation of
_Cocao-Trees_, and to raise Nurseries of them.

When one would raise a Nursery, it is necessary, above all things, to
chuse a proper Place, in respect of Situation, and a Soil agreeable to
the Nature of it.

The Place should be level, moist, and not exposed to Winds; a fresh, and
(if one may be allow'd the Expression) a Virgin Soil, indifferently fat,
light, and deep. For this reason, Ground newly cleared, whose Soil is
black and sandy, which is kept moist by a River, and its Borders so high
as to shelter it from the Winds, especially towards the Sea Coast, is
preferable to any other; and they never fail putting it to this Use,
when they are so happy as to find any of this sort.

I have said, _Ground newly cleared_, that is to say, whose Wood is cut
down purposely for it; for it is necessary to observe, that they at
present plant their Nurseries in the middle of Woods, which have been so
time out of mind, and this for two weighty Reasons: The First, because
the Wood that is left standing round it, may serve as a Shelter; and the
Second, because there is less Trouble in weeding or grubbing it. The
Ground that has never produced any Weeds, will send forth but few, for
want of Seed.

As for Nurseries planted in high Ground, the Earth is neither moist nor
deep enough, and commonly the chief Root which grows directly downwards,
cannot pierce the hard Earth which it soon meets with. Besides, the
Winds are more boisterous, and cause the Blossoms to fall off as soon as
blown, and when a little high, overturn the Tree, whose Roots are almost
all superficial.

This is yet worse on the Hills, whose Descent is too steep; for besides
the same Inconveniencies, the falling down of the Earth draws with it
the good Soil, and insensibly lays the Roots bare.

One may therefore conclude that all these Nurseries are a long time
before they bear, that they are never fruitful, and that they are
destroy'd in a little time.

It is also proper that a Nursery, as much as may be, should be
surrounded with standing Wood; but if it is open on any side, it should
be remedy'd as soon as possible, by a Border of several Ranks of Trees
called _Bananes_[5].

Besides this, the Nurseries should be moderate in respect of Magnitude,
for the Small have not Air enough, and are, as it were, stifled; and the
very Large