éS                      TRAVELS  IN  TRINIDAD,             Let. 3.]
colour, and about the size of an almond, and hang fif-
teen or eighteen together by a slender stringy film,
inclosed in a pod shaped like a cucumber, but pointed
at the upper end. A ripe pod is of a beautiful yellow,
intermixed with crimson streaks ; when dried it shrivels
up and changes to a deep brown ; the juice squeezed
from the mucilaginous pulp contained in the husk of
these auts appears like cream, and has a very grateful taste
of a cordial quality; the nut is said to be so nutritious
that an ounce of them contains more real nourishment
than a whole pound of beef. I know not how far this
is correct, but a French physician of long practice at-
Cape François, in the Island of St. Domingo, informed
me, that he found it a very efficacious regimen after
fevers ; particularly in cases of debility occasioned by
the climate. The tree is difficult to cultivate, because
the climate it gro«s in is so hot that, to protect it from
the great influence of the sun, they plant it m the shade
of another tree, called the Mother of Cacao. The pro-
fit arising from the fruit is so considerable that we are
told some of ihe plantations in the Caraccas yield
annually ôQOOl. Sterling. In, many parts of the Spanish
dominions the nuts are used by the natives as money,
twelve or fourteen being esteemed equivalent to a Spa-
nish real, or about sevenpence *,
There is another account of this tree in Howard's
Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, which, as it is an article
of Commerce, ought to be generally known, and the
virtues of its fruit widely promulgated ; more especially
as it supports my plan for a White Population in this
Island, and supercedes the slavery of negroes.
• Beauties of Nature and Art Displayed, in a Tour through the
World; 14th vol.