There are several cacao plantations in Surinam.  The trees are left to grow their natural height, which is about that of a cherry-tree; their leaves resemble those of the broad-leaved laurel, and are of a dark green colour.  The fruit in shape resembles a lemon, but is rather more oval; it is at first green, and, when ripe, yellow.  It is said that there are some trees which produce above two hundred, each containing about twenty beans or nuts.  The fruit not only proceeds from the branches, but even from the stem; and though there is always ripe and unripe fruit, it is only gathered twice a year.  The chocolate is in that colony in general of an inferior quality, known by its dark brown color and rough taste, but the superiority of the cacao depends principally on the soil where the trees are planted.—­(Baron Von Sack’s “Surinam.”)

My friend, Sir R. Schomburgk, in his “Description of British Guiana,” says—­“While we crossed from the river Berbice to the Essequibo, we met a number of chocolate nut trees, near the abandoned Caribi settlement of Primoss.  It is not to be doubted that the trees were originally planted by the Indians, but from their number and the distance from the river, I judged they were propagated by nature.  Though they were overshadowed by larger trees, and had for many years been neglected, they had reached nevertheless a height of from thirty to forty feet, and the luxuriant growth and the abundance of fruit, proved that the plant was satisfied with the soil.  The forests at the banks of the Rio Branco, in the vicinity of Santa Maria and Carno, abound in wild cacao trees, the fruits of which are collected by the scanty population of that district for their own use.”

The cultivation of cacao will be most suitable to the less wealthy individual, as it demands so little labor and outlay.  Baron Humboldt observes, in alluding to Spanish America, that cacao plantations are occupied by persons of humble condition, who prepare for themselves and their children a slow but certain fortune; a single laborer is sufficient to aid them in their plantations, and 30,000 trees, once established, assure competence for a generation and a half.

The following have been the total imports of Cacao into the United Kingdom from Mexico and Central America, &c.:—­

lbs.
1832            85,642
1834            16,171
1835               211
1836           861,531
1837           564,992
1838         1,681,965
1839           508,307
1840         1,058,015
1841         1,802,547
1842           441,084
1843         1,229,515
(Parl.  Paper, No. 426, Sess. 1844.)

Only a few hundred pounds of this is entered annually for home consumption, the great bulk being re-exported.

In 1850 we imported 1,204,572 lbs. from Mexico; 1,231,773 lbs. from Chile; 4,438 lbs. from Venezuela, and 23,538 lbs. from Hayti.

BRAZIL.—­A great deal of cacao is raised in different parts of this empire.  From the province of Para alone 35,000 bags, valued at L35,000, were exported in the year 1845.  Mr. Edwards, in his “Voyage up the River Amazon,” gives an interesting account:—­