The following were the expenses of a cacao plantation in Jamaica during the early period of British possession:—­

L stg
Letters patent of five hundred acres of land 10
Six negroes 120
Four white persons, their passage and maintenance 80
Maintenance of six slaves for six months 18
Working implements 5
——­
L233

In four to five years the produce of one hundred acres would usually sell for L4,240 sterling.  This was a monstrous and most unlooked-for return; but then, what was it to the profits of sugar, which, owing to the prodigious increase of the slave trade, was fast coming into active operation, and eating up and destroying all other sources and springs of industry?  How dearly have the West Indians paid for the short-lived affluence which the sugar cane conferred!

Blome, in his brief account of Jamaica, published in 1672, speaks of cacao as being one of the chief articles of export.  He states that there were sixty cacao-walks or plantations, and many more planting; but, for many years, no cacao plantation has existed in Jamaica, all the chocolate used being made from imported berries, or the chance growth of a munificent climate and redundant soil!  A few scattered trees, Edwards says (and as I my self know), here and there, are all that remain of those flourishing and beautiful groves, which were once the pride and boast of the country.  They have withered with the indigo manufactory, under the heavy hand of ministerial exaction. The excise on cacao, when made into cakes, rose to no less than L12 12s. per cwt., exclusive of 11s. 111/2d. paid at the Custom-house, amounting together to upwards of L840 per cent. on its marketable value!

The mode of cultivating the cacao is given at some length by Edwards; it is that of the Spaniards, a process strictly followed in Trinidad, where, of all the West India islands, it constitutes a considerable item of exports.  It is thus described:—­“A spot of level land being chosen—­preference is always given to a deep black mould, sheltered by a hedge or thicket, so as to be screened by the wind, especially the north, and cleared of all weeds and stumps of trees—­a number of holes are dug, at ten or twelve feet distance from each other, each hole being about a foot in length, and six or eight inches deep.  A very important matter is the selection of the seeds for planting, and this is done in the following manner:  the finest and largest pods of the cacao are selected when full ripe, and the grains taken out and placed in a vessel of water.  Those which swim are rejected; those chosen are washed clean from the pulp, skinned, and then replaced in the water till they begin to sprout; Banana (Musa paradisiaca), or some other large leaves, those of the sea-side grape (Coccoloba uvifera), for instance, are then taken, and each hole is lined with