ublic
of Ecuador, is an ancient and picturesque city built almost astride the
Equator. Despite the unscientific cultural methods, and the imperfect
fermentation, which results in the cacao containing a high percentage of
unfermented beans and not infrequently mouldy beans also, this cacao is
much appreciated in Europe and America, for the beans are large and
possess a fine strong flavour and characteristic scented aroma. The
amount of Guayaquil cacao exported in 1919 was 33,209 tons.

[Illustration: RAKING CACAO BEANS ON THE DRIERS.]

[Illustration: GATHERING CACAO PODS IN ECUADOR.
(La Clementina Plantation, Ecuador.)]

[Illustration: SORTING CACAO FOR SHIPMENT, GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR.]

An interesting experiment was made in 1912, when a protective
association known as the _Asociacion de Agricultores del Ecuador_ was
legalised. This collects half a golden dollar on every hundred pounds of
cacao, and by purchasing and storing cacao on its own account whenever
prices fall below a reasonable minimum, attempts in the planter's
interest to regulate the selling price of cacao. Unfortunately, as cacao
tends to go mouldy when stored in a damp tropical climate, the
_Asociacion_ is not an unmixed blessing to the manufacturer and
consumer.

BRAZIL.

_Para and Bahia Cacaos._--Brazil has made marked progress in recent
years, and has now overtaken Ecuador in quantity of produce; the cacao,
however, is quite different from, and not as fine as, that from
Guayaquil. The principal cacao comes from the State of Bahia, where the
climate is ideal for its cultivation. Indeed so perfect are the natural
conditions that formerly no care was taken in cacao production, and much
of that gathered was wild and uncured. During the last decade there has
been an improvement, and this would, doubtless, be more noteworthy if
the means of transport were better, for at present the roads are bad and
the railways inadequate; hence most of the cacao is brought down to the
city of Bahia in canoes. Nevertheless, Bahia cacao is better fermented
than the peculiar cacao of Para, another important cacao from Brazil,
which is appreciated by manufacturers on account of its mild flavour.
Bahia exported in 1919 about 51,000 tons of cacao.

VENEZUELA.

_Caracas, Carupano and Maracaibo Cacaos._--Venezuela has been called
"the classic home of cacao," and had not the chief occupation of its
inhabitants been revolution, it would have retained till now the
importa