its froth, and drank it,
the women serving them with a great deal of respect;' and similar jars
were served to the guards and attendants 'to the number of two
thousand at least.' The Spaniards enjoyed the rare beverage, and with
a slight transformation of the native Mexican term _Chacoc-atl_, they
introduced chocolate, as they named it, into Spain, monopolising the
article for a time, and it was only by slow degrees that the knowledge
of it spread into other parts of Europe. Gage, an old traveller who
had visited the tropics, writing in 1630, remarks: 'Our English and
Hollanders make little use of it, when they take a prize at sea, as
not knowing the secret virtue and quality of it for the good of the
stomach.' In the reign of Charles II., it was so much esteemed in
England that Dr Stubbe published a book, entitled _The Indian Nectar,
or a Discourse concerning Chocolata_, &c., giving a history of the
article, and many curious notions respecting its 'secret virtue;' and
recommending his readers to buy it of one Mortimer, 'an honest, though
poor man,' who lived in East Smithfield, and sold the best kind at 6s.
6d. the pound, and commoner sorts for about half that price. Of
course, none but the wealthy could drink it; indeed, we find writers
of the past century alluding to it as an aristocratic beverage.

Linnaeus was so fond of chocolate, that he called it _food for the
gods_ in the distinguishing name which he gave to the tree that
produces it--_Theobroma cacao_. The tree is a native of tropical
America, but is now largely cultivated in other parts of the world. It
grows from twelve to sixteen feet high, with evergreen leaves, and
fruit of a deep orange colour when ripe, resembling a cucumber in
shape, and containing from ten to thirty seeds. These seeds are the
cacao-nuts or cocoa-nibs of commerce; in the trade, they are commonly
spoken of as cocoa-nuts. The best kind are brought from Trinidad; and
such has been the effect of lowering the duty, which was formerly 4s.
per pound, to one penny, the present charge, that the quantity
imported in the year ending January 5, 1852, amounted to 6,773,960
pounds. Among the colonial produce shewn in the Great Exhibition,
cocoa-nuts held a conspicuous place; and it ought to be understood,
that from such as these cocoa and chocolate are made--both from the
same article.

To return to the factory. We first saw a storehouse filled with bags
of nuts or nibs, two hundredweight in each,