human milk as an
infant's food, to supplement what other milk may be available;
incomparable as a family drink for breakfast or supper, when both tea
and coffee are really out of place unless the latter is nearly all
milk; prepared as chocolate to eat on journeys, and in many other
ways, cocoa is a constant stand-by. Travelling in Eastern deserts on
mule-back, the present writer has never been without a tin of cocoa
essence if he could help it, as, whatever straits he might be put to
for provisions, so long as he had this and water, refreshment was
possible, and whenever milk was available he had command in his lonely
tent of a luxury unsurpassed in Paris or London. For the sustenance of
invalids he has found nothing better in the home-land than a nightly
cup of cocoa essence boiled with milk.

[Illustration--Drawing: MOLINILLO (LITTLE MILL) OR CHOCOLATE WHISK.]

Add to these experiences a love for the flavour which dates from
childhood, and his admiration for this "food of the gods" will be
appreciated, even if not sympathized in, by the few who have escaped
its spell. Its value in the eyes of practical as well as scientific
men is sufficiently demonstrated by its increasing use in naval and
military commissariats, in hospitals, and in public institutions of
all classes. In the British Navy, which down to 1830 consumed more
cocoa than the rest of the nation together, it is served out daily,
and in the army twice or thrice a week. Brillat Savarin, the author of
the "Physiologie du Gout," remarks: "The persons who habitually take
chocolate are those who enjoy the most equable and constant health,
and are least liable to a multitude of illnesses which spoil the
enjoyment of life."

[Illustration--Black and White Plate: A Cacao Harvest, Trinidad.]

It certainly behoves us, therefore, to learn something more of such a
valuable article than may be gleaned from the perusal of an
advertisement, or the instructions on a packet containing it. There is
something more than usually fascinating even in its history, in all
the tales regarding this treasure-trove of the New World, and in the
curious methods by which it has been treated. The story of its
discovery takes us into the atmosphere of the Elizabethan period, and
into the company of Cortes and Columbus; to learn of its cultivation
and preparation we are transported to the glorious realms of the
tropics, and to some of the most healthful centres of labour in the
old count