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.
[(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 Herbariæ. pag. 660. tab. 444.