gth-ways like a Melon[c].

This Shell in the first Months is either red or white, or a Mixture of
red and yellow: This Variety of Colours makes three sorts of
_Cocao-Trees_, which have nothing else to distinguish them but this,
which I do not think sufficient to make in reality three different kinds
of _Cocao-Nuts_[d].

The First is of a dark vinous Red, chiefly on the sides, which becomes
more bright and pale as the Fruit ripens.

The Second, which is the White, or rather is at first of so pale a
Green, that it may be mistaken for White; by little and little it
assumes a Citron Colour, which still growing deeper and deeper, at
length becomes entirely yellow.

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, t