<h2><SPAN name="chapter4" id="chapter4">CHAPTER IV</SPAN></h2>
<h3>CACAO PRODUCTION AND SALE</h3>
<div class="blkquot">
When the English Commander, Thomas Candish, coming
into the Haven Guatulco, burnt two hundred thousand
tun of cacao, it proved no small loss to all New Spain, the
provinces Guatimala and Nicaragua not producing so
much in a whole year.</div>
<div class="citation">
John Ogilvy's <i>America</i>, 1671.</div>
<p>When one starts to discuss, however briefly,
the producing areas, one ought first to take
off one's hat to Ecuador, for so long the principal
producer, and then to Venezuela the land of the
original cacao, and producer of the finest criollo type.
Having done this, one ought to say words of praise to
Trinidad, Grenada and Ceylon for their scientific
methods of culture and preparation; and, last but not
least, the newest and greatest producer, the Gold
Coast, should receive honourable mention. It is interesting
to note that in 1918 British Possessions produced
nearly half (44 per cent.) of the world's supply.</p>
<p>Whilst the war has not very materially hindered the
increase of cacao production in the tropics, the shortage
of shipping has prevented the amount exported
from maintaining a steady rise. The table below, taken
mainly from the "Gordian," illustrates this:</p>
<h3>WORLD PRODUCTION OF CACAO.</h3>
<div class="centre">
<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
<tr>
<td align="center" colspan="4">Total in tons (1 ton = 1000 kilogrammes)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center">1908</td><td align="center">194,000</td>
<td align="center">1914</td><td align="center">277,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center">1909</td><td align="center">206,000</td>
<td align="center">1915</td><td align="center">298,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center">1910</td><td align="center">220,000</td>
<td align="center">1916</td><td align="center">297,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center">1911</td><td align="center">241,000</td>
<td align="center">1917</td><td align="center">343,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center">1912</td><td align="center">234,000</td>
<td align="center">1918</td><td align="center">273,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center">1913</td><td align="center">258,000</td>
<td align="center">1919</td><td align="center">431,000</td>
</tr>
</table>
<SPAN name="page82" id="page82"></SPAN></div>
<p>The following table is compiled chiefly from Messrs.
Theo. Vasmer & Co.'s reports in the <i>Confectioners'
Union</i>.</p>
<h3>CACAO PRODUCTION OF THE CHIEF PRODUCING AREAS OF THE WORLD.</h3>
<div class="centre">
<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
<tr>
<td align="center" colspan="6">(1 ton = 1000 kilogrammes).</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Country.</td><td align="center">1914</td><td align="center">1915</td>
<td align="center">1916</td><td align="center">1917</td><td align="center">1918</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left"> </td><td align="center">Tons.</td><td align="center">Tons.</td>
<td align="center">Tons.</td><td align="center">Tons.</td><td align="center">Tons.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Gold Coast<SPAN name="IV-1m" id="IV-1m" href="#IV-1"><small>[1]</small></SPAN></td>
<td align="right">53,000</td><td align="right">77,300</td><td align="right">72,200</td>
<td align="right">91,000</td><td align="right">66,300</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Brazil</td><td align="right">40,800</td><td align="right">45,000</td>
<td align="right">43,700</td><td align="right">55,600</td><td align="right">41,900</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Ecuador</td><td align="right">47,200</td><td align="right">37,000</td>
<td align="right">42,700</td><td align="right">47,200</td><td align="right">38,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">San Thom�</td><td align="right">31,400</td><td align="right">29,900</td>
<td align="right">33,200</td><td align="right">31,900</td><td align="right">26,600</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Trinidad<SPAN href="#IV-1"><small>[1]</small></SPAN></td>
<td align="right">28,400</td><td align="right">24,100</td><td align="right">24,000</td>
<td align="right">31,800</td><td align="right">26,200</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">San Domingo</td><td align="right">20,700</td><td align="right">20,200</td>
<td align="right">21,000</td><td align="right">23,700</td><td align="right">18,800</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Venezuela</td><td align="right">16,900</td><td align="right">18,300</td>
<td align="right">15,200</td><td align="right">13,100</td><td align="right">13,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Lagos<SPAN href="#IV-1"><small>[1]</small></SPAN></td>
<td align="right">4,900</td><td align="right">9,100</td><td align="right">9,000</td>
<td align="right">15,400</td><td align="right">10,200</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Grenada<SPAN href="#IV-1"><small>[1]</small></SPAN></td>
<td align="right">6,100</td><td align="right">6,500</td><td align="right">5,500</td>
<td align="right">5,500</td><td align="right">6,700</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Fernando Po</td><td align="right">3,100</td><td align="right">3,900</td>
<td align="right">3,800</td><td align="right">3,700</td><td align="right">4,200</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Ceylon<SPAN href="#IV-1"><small>[1]</small></SPAN></td>
<td align="right">2,900</td><td align="right">3,900</td><td align="right">3,500</td>
<td align="right">3,700</td><td align="right">4,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Jamaica<SPAN href="#IV-1"><small>[1]</small></SPAN></td>
<td align="right">3,800</td><td align="right">3,600</td><td align="right">3,400</td>
<td align="right">2,800</td><td align="right">3,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Surinam</td><td align="right">1,900</td><td align="right">1,700</td>
<td align="right">2,000</td><td align="right">1,900</td><td align="right">2,500</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Cameroons</td><td align="right">1,200</td><td align="right">2,400</td>
<td align="right">3,000</td><td align="right">2,800</td><td align="right">1,300</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Haiti</td><td align="right">2,100</td><td align="right">1,800</td>
<td align="right">1,900</td><td align="right">1,500</td><td align="right">2,300</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">French Cols.</td><td align="right">1,800</td><td align="right">1,900</td>
<td align="right">1,600</td><td align="right">2,200</td><td align="right">1,700</td>
</tr>
<tr><td align="left">Cuba</td><td align="right">1,800</td><td align="right">1,700</td>
<td align="right">1,500</td><td align="right">1,500</td><td align="right">1,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Java</td><td align="right">1,600</td><td align="right">1,500</td>
<td align="right">1,500</td><td align="right">1,600</td><td align="right">800</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Samoa</td><td align="right">1,100</td><td align="right">900</td>
<td align="right">900</td><td align="right">1,200</td><td align="right">800</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Togo</td><td align="right">200</td><td align="right">300</td>
<td align="right">400</td><td align="right">1,600</td><td align="right">1,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">St. Lucia<SPAN href="#IV-1"><small>[1]</small></SPAN></td>
<td align="right">700</td><td align="right">800</td><td align="right">700</td>
<td align="right">600</td><td align="right">500</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Belgian Congo</td><td align="right">500</td><td align="right">600</td>
<td align="right">800</td><td align="right">800</td><td align="right">900</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Dominica<SPAN href="#IV-1"><small>[1]</small></SPAN></td>
<td align="right">450</td><td align="right">550</td><td align="right">300</td>
<td align="right">300</td><td align="right">300</td>
</tr>
<tr><td align="left">St. Vincent<SPAN href="#IV-1"><small>[1]</small></SPAN></td>
<td align="right">100</td><td align="right">100</td><td align="right">75</td>
<td align="right">50</td><td align="right">75</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Other countries</td><td align="right" class="bb">3,200</td>
<td align="right" class="bb">3,000</td><td align="right" class="bb">3,500</td>
<td align="right" class="bb">3,500</td><td align="right" class="bb">3,500</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Total</td><td align="right" class="bb">275,900</td>
<td align="right" class="bb">296,100</td><td align="right" class="bb">295,400</td>
<td align="right" class="bb">344,000</td><td align="right" class="bb">275,600</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Total British Empire</td><td align="right">102,000</td>
<td align="right">128,000</td><td align="right">120,000</td><td align="right">153,000</td>
<td align="right">119,000</td>
</tr>
</table></div>
<p><SPAN name="page83" id="page83"></SPAN></p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image41" id="image41"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image041.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image041_thumb.jpg" alt="MAP OF THE WORLD, WITH ONLY CACAO-PRODUCING AREAS MARKED." title="MAP OF THE WORLD, WITH ONLY CACAO-PRODUCING AREAS MARKED." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
MAP OF THE WORLD, WITH ONLY CACAO-PRODUCING AREAS MARKED.</p>
<SPAN name="page84" id="page84"></SPAN></div>
<h3><i>SOUTH AMERICAN CACAO.</i></h3>
<p>In the map of South America given on p. 89 the
principal cacao producing areas are marked. Their
production in 1918 was as follows:</p>
<h3>CACAO BEANS EXPORTED.</h3>
<div class="centre">
<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
<tr>
<td align="left">Country.</td>
<td align="center">Metric Tons.<SPAN name="IV-2m" id="IV-2m" href="#IV-2"><small>[2]</small></SPAN></td>
<td align="center">Percentage of<br/>World's production.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Brazil</td><td align="center">41,865</td><td align="center">15.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Ecuador</td><td align="center">38,00</td><td align="center">14.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left" colspan="3"> (Guayaquil alone 34,973 tons)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Venezuela</td><td align="center">13,000</td><td align="center">5.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Surinam</td><td align="center">2,468</td><td align="center">0.9</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">British Guiana</td><td align="center" class="bb">20</td>
<td align="center" class="bb">0.01</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">South American Total</td><td align="center">95,353 tons</td>
<td align="center">35.31 per cent.</td>
</tr>
</table></div>
<p> </p>
<div class="centre">
<table summary="images">
<tr>
<td>
<SPAN name="image42" id="image42"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image042.jpg">
<ANTIMG class="noborder" src="images/image042_thumb.jpg" alt="RAKING CACAO BEANS ON THE DRIERS." title="RAKING CACAO BEANS ON THE DRIERS." /></SPAN>
</td>
<td>
<SPAN name="image43" id="image43"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image043.jpg">
<ANTIMG class="noborder" src="images/image043_thumb.jpg" alt="GATHERING CACAO PODS IN ECUADOR." title="GATHERING CACAO PODS IN ECUADOR." /></SPAN>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center">
<p class="caption">
RAKING CACAO BEANS ON THE DRIERS.</p>
</td>
<td align="center">
<p class="caption">
GATHERING CACAO PODS IN ECUADOR.</p>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><p class="caption">(La Clementina Plantation, Ecuador.)</p>
</td></tr>
</table></div>
<p>ECUADOR.</p>
<p><i>Arriba and Machala Cacaos.</i>—In Ecuador, for many
years the chief producing area of the world, dwell the
cacao kings, men who possess very large and wild cacao
forests, each containing several million cacao trees.
The method of culture is primitive, and no artificial
manures are used, yet for several generations the trees
have given good crops and the soil remains as fertile
as ever. The two principal cacaos are known as <i>Arriba</i>
and <i>Machala</i>, or classed together as Guayaquil after
the city of that name. Guayaquil, the commercial
metropolis of the Republic 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
<SPAN name="page85" id="page85"></SPAN>
<SPAN name="page86" id="page86"></SPAN>
are large and possess a fine strong flavour and characteristic
scented aroma. The amount of Guayaquil
cacao exported in 1919 was 33,209 tons.</p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image44" id="image44"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image044.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image044_thumb.jpg" alt="SORTING CACAO FOR SHIPMENT, GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR." title="SORTING CACAO FOR SHIPMENT, GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
SORTING CACAO FOR SHIPMENT, GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR.</p>
</div>
<p>An interesting experiment was made in 1912, when
a protective association known as the <i>Asociacion de
Agricultores del Ecuador</i> 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
<i>Asociacion</i> is not an unmixed blessing to the manufacturer
and consumer.
<SPAN name="page87" id="page87"></SPAN></p>
<p>BRAZIL.</p>
<p><i>Parâ and Bahia Cacaos.</i>—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 Pará, 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.</p>
<p>VENEZUELA.</p>
<p><i>Caracas, Carupano and Maracaibo Cacaos.</i>—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
important position it held a hundred years ago. It is in
this enchanted country (it was at La Guayra in Caracas,
as readers of <i>Westward Ho!</i> will remember, that
Amyas found his long-sought Rose) that the finest
cacao in the world is produced: the criollo, the bean
with the golden-brown break. The tree which produces
this is as delicate as the cacao is fine, and
there is some danger that this superb cacao may die
out—a tragedy which every connoisseur would wish
to avert.</p>
<p>The <i>Gordian</i> estimates that Venezuela sent out from
her three principal ports in 1919 some 16,226 tons of
cacao.
<SPAN name="page88" id="page88"></SPAN></p>
<h3><i>THE WEST INDIES.</i></h3>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image45" id="image45"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image045.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image045_thumb.jpg" alt="MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES. Only cacao-producing areas are marked." title="MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES. Only cacao-producing areas are marked." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES.<br/>
Only cacao-producing areas are marked.</p>
</div>
<p>In the map of South America the principal West
Indian islands producing cacao are marked. Their
production in 1918 was as follows:</p>
<h3>CACAO BEANS EXPORTED.</h3>
<div class="centre">
<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
<tr>
<td></td><td align="center">Metric Tons.</td><td align="center">Percentage<br/>of World's production.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Trinidad (British)</td><td align="right">26,177</td><td align="center">9.7</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">San Domingo</td><td align="right">18,839</td><td align="center">7.0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Grenada (British)</td><td align="right">6,704</td><td align="center">2.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Jamaica (British)</td><td align="right">3,000</td><td align="center">1.1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Haiti</td><td align="right">2,272</td><td align="center">0.8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">St. Lucia (British)</td><td align="right">500</td><td align="center">0.2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Dominica (British)</td><td align="right">300</td><td align="center">0.1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">St. Vincent (British)</td><td align="right" class="bb">70</td>
<td align="center" class="bb">0.02</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">West Indies Total</td><td align="right" class="bb">57,862 tons</td>
<td align="center" class="bb">21.42 per cent.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Br. West Indies</td><td align="right">36,751 tons</td>
<td align="center">13.6 per cent.</td>
</tr>
</table></div>
<p>TRINIDAD AND GRENADA.<SPAN name="IV-3m" id="IV-3m" href="#IV-3"><small>[3]</small></SPAN></p>
<p>Cacao was grown in the West Indies in the seventeenth
century, and the inhabitants, after the destructive
"blast," which utterly destroyed the plantations
in 1727, bravely replanted cacao, which has flourished
there ever since. The cacaos of Trinidad and Grenada
have long been known for their excellence, and it is
mainly from Trinidad that the knowledge of methods
of scientific cultivation and preparation has been
spread to planters all round the equator. The cacao
from Trinidad (famous alike for its cacao and its pitch
lake) has always held a high place in the markets of the
world, although a year or two ago the inclusion of inferior
cacao and the practice of claying was abused
by a few growers and merchants. With the object of
stopping these abuses and of producing a uniform
cacao, there was formed a Cacao Planters' Association,
whose business it is to grade and bulk, and sell
on a co-operative basis, the cacao produced by its
members. This experiment has proved successful, and
<SPAN name="page89" id="page89"></SPAN>
<SPAN name="page90" id="page90"></SPAN>
in 1918 the Association handled the cacao from over
100 estates. We may expect to see more of these cacao
planters' associations formed in various parts of the
world, for they are in line with the trend of the times
towards large, and ever larger, unions and combinations.
Trinidad is also progressive in its system of agricultural
education and in its formation of agricultural credit societies.
The neighbouring island of Grenada is mountainous,
smaller than the Isle of Wight and (if the Irish will
forgive me) greener than Erin's Isle. The methods of cacao
cultivation in vogue there might seem natural to the British
farmer, but they are considered remarkable by cacao
planters, for in Grenada the soil on which the trees grow is
forked or tilled. Possibly from this follows the equally
remarkable corollary that the cacao trees flourish without
a single shade tree. The preparation of the bean receives
<SPAN name="page91" id="page91"></SPAN>as much care as the cultivation of the tree, and
the cacao which comes from the estates has an unvaried
constancy of quality, not infrequently giving
100 per cent. of perfectly prepared beans. It is largely
due to this that the cacao from this small island occupies
such an important position on the London market.</p>
<p>The cacao from San Domingo is known commercially
as <i>Samana</i> or <i>Sanchez</i>. A fair proportion is of
inferior quality, and is little appreciated on the
European markets. The bulk of it goes to America.
The production in 1919 was about 23,000 tons.</p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image46" id="image46"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image046.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image046_thumb.jpg" alt="WORKERS ON A CACAO PLANTATION. (Messrs. Cadbury's estate in Trinidad.)" title="WORKERS ON A CACAO PLANTATION. (Messrs. Cadbury's estate in Trinidad.)" /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
WORKERS ON A CACAO PLANTATION.<br/>
(Messrs. Cadbury's estate in Trinidad.)</p>
</div>
<h3><i>AFRICAN CACAO.</i></h3>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image47" id="image47"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image047.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image047_thumb.jpg" alt="MAP OF AFRICA—WITH ONLY CACAO-PRODUCING AREAS MARKED." title="MAP OF AFRICA—WITH ONLY CACAO-PRODUCING AREAS MARKED." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
MAP OF AFRICA—WITH ONLY CACAO-PRODUCING AREAS MARKED.</p>
</div>
<p>In the map of Africa the principal producing areas
are marked. Their production in 1918 was as follows:</p>
<h3>CACAO BEANS EXPORTED.</h3>
<div class="centre">
<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
<tr>
<td></td><td align="center">Metric Tons.</td><td align="center">Percentage of<br/>World's production.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Gold Coast (British)</td><td align="right">66,343</td><td align="center">24.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">San Thom�</td><td align="right">19,185</td><td align="center">7.1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Lagos (British)</td><td align="right">10,223</td><td align="center">3.8</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Fernando Po</td><td align="right">4,220</td><td align="center">1.6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Cameroons</td><td align="right">1,250</td><td align="center">0.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Togo</td><td align="right">1,000</td><td align="center">0.4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Belgian Congo</td><td align="right" class="bb">875</td>
<td align="center" class="bb">0.3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">African Total</td><td align="right" class="bb">103,096 tons</td>
<td align="center" class="bb">38.1 per cent.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">British Africa</td><td align="right">76,566 tons</td>
<td align="center">28.3 per cent.</td>
</tr>
</table></div>
<p>THE GOLD COAST (<i>Industria floremus</i>).</p>
<p><i>Accra Cacao.</i></p>
<p>The name recalls stories of a romantic and awful
past, in which gold and the slave trade played their
terrible part. Happily these are things of the past; so
is the "deadly climate." We are told that it is now no
worse than that of other tropical countries. According
to Sir Hugh Clifford, until recently Governor of the
Gold Coast, the "West African Climatic Bogie" is a
<SPAN name="page92" id="page92"></SPAN>
<SPAN name="page93" id="page93"></SPAN>
<SPAN name="page94" id="page94"></SPAN>
myth, and the "monumental reputation for unhealthiness"
undeserved. When De Candolle wrote concerning
cacao, "I imagine it would succeed on the
Guinea Coast,"<SPAN name="IV-4m" id="IV-4m" href="#IV-4"><small>[4]</small></SPAN>
as the West African coast is sometimes
called, he achieved prophecy, but he little
dreamed how wonderful this success would be. The
rise and growth of the cacao-growing industry in the
Gold Coast is one of the most extraordinary developments
of the last few decades. In thirty years it has
increased its export of cacao from nothing to 40 per cent.
of the total of the world's production.</p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image48" id="image48"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image048.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image048_thumb.jpg" alt="FORESHORE AT ACCRA, WITH STACKS OF CACAO READY FOR SHIPMENT Reproduced by permission of the Editor of "West Africa"." title="FORESHORE AT ACCRA, WITH STACKS OF CACAO READY FOR SHIPMENT Reproduced by permission of the Editor of "West Africa"." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
FORESHORE AT ACCRA, WITH STACKS OF CACAO READY FOR SHIPMENT<br/>
Reproduced by permission of the Editor of "West Africa".</p>
</div>
<h3>PRODUCTION OF CACAO ON THE GOLD COAST.</h3>
<div class="centre">
<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
<tr>
<td align="left">Year.</td><td align="center">Quantity.</td><td align="center">Value. �</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">1891</td><td align="right">0 tons (80 lbs.)</td><td align="right">4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">1896</td><td align="right">34 tons</td><td align="right">2,276</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">1901</td><td align="right">980 tons</td><td align="right">42,837</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">1906</td><td align="right">8,975 tons</td><td align="right">336,269</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">1911</td><td align="right">30,798 tons</td><td align="right">1,613,468</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">1916</td><td align="right">72,161 tons</td><td align="right">3,847,720</td>
</tr>
<tr><td colspan="3"></td></tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">1917</td><td align="right">90,964 tons</td><td align="right">3,146,851</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">1918</td><td align="right">66,343 tons</td><td align="right">1,796,985</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">1919</td><td align="right">177,000 tons</td><td align="right">8,000,000</td>
</tr>
</table></div>
<p> </p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image49" id="image49"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image049.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image049_thumb.jpg" alt="CARRIERS CONVEYING BAGS OF CACAO TO SURF BOATS, ACCRA. Reproduced by permission of the Editor of "West Africa."" title="CARRIERS CONVEYING BAGS OF CACAO TO SURF BOATS, ACCRA. Reproduced by permission of the Editor of "West Africa."" /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
CARRIERS CONVEYING BAGS OF CACAO TO SURF BOATS, ACCRA.<br/>
Reproduced by permission of the Editor of "West Africa."</p>
</div>
<p>The conditions of production in the Gold Coast
present a number of features entirely novel. We hear
from time to time of concessions being granted in
tropical regions to this or that company of enterprising
European capitalists, who employ a few Europeans
and send them to the area to manage the industry. The
inhabitants of the area become the manual wage earners
of the company, and too often in the lust for profits,
or as an offering to the god of commercial efficiency,
the once easy and free life of the native is lost for ever
and a form of wage-slavery takes its place with doubtful
effects on the life and health of the workers. In
defence it is pointed out that yet another portion of
the earth has been made productive, which, without
the initiative of the European capitalist, must have lain
<SPAN name="page95" id="page95"></SPAN>
<SPAN name="page96" id="page96"></SPAN>
fallow. But in the Gold Coast the "indolent" native
has created a new industry entirely native owned, and
in thirty years the Gold Coast has outstripped all the
areas of the world in quantity of produce. Forty years
ago the natives had never seen a cacao tree, now at
least fifty million trees flourish in the colony. This
could not have happened without the strenuous efforts
of the Department of Agriculture. The Gold Coast
now stands head and shoulders above any other producing
area for quantity. The problem of the future
lies in the improvement of quality, and difficult though
this problem be, we cannot doubt, given a fair chance,
that the far-sighted and energetic Agricultural Department
will solve it. Indeed, it must in justice be pointed
out that already a very marked improvement has been
made, and now fifty to one hundred times as much
good fermented cacao is produced as there was ten
years ago.<SPAN name="IV-5m" id="IV-5m" href="#IV-5"><small>[5]</small></SPAN>
However, if a high standard is to be maintained,
the work of the Department of Agriculture
must be supplemented by the willingness of the cacao
buyers to pay a higher price for the better qualities.</p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image50" id="image50"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image050.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image050_thumb.jpg" alt="CROSSING THE RIVER AT NSAWAM, GOLD COAST." title="CROSSING THE RIVER AT NSAWAM, GOLD COAST." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
CROSSING THE RIVER AT NSAWAM, GOLD COAST.</p>
</div>
<p>The phenomenal growth of this industry is the more
remarkable when we consider the lack of roads and
beasts of burden. The usual pack animals, horses and
oxen, cannot live on the Gold Coast because of the
tsetse fly, which spreads amongst them the sleeping
sickness. And so the native, used as he is to heavy
head-loads, naturally adopted this as his first method
of transport, and hundreds of the less affluent natives
arrive at the collecting centres with great weights of
<SPAN name="page97" id="page97"></SPAN>
<SPAN name="page98" id="page98"></SPAN>
cacao on their heads. "Women and children, light-hearted,
chattering and cheerful, bear their 60 lbs.
head-loads with infinite patience. Heavier loads, approaching
sometimes
two hundredweight,
are borne by grave,
silent Hausa-men,
often a distance of
thirty or forty miles."</p>
<div class="lef">
<SPAN name="image51" id="image51"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image051.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image051_thumb.jpg" alt="DRYING CACAO BEANS AT MRAMRA. Reproduced by permission from the Imperial Institute series of Handbooks to the Commercial Resources of the Tropics." title="DRYING CACAO BEANS AT MRAMRA. Reproduced by permission from the Imperial Institute series of Handbooks to the Commercial Resources of the Tropics." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
DRYING CACAO BEANS AT<br/>
MRAMRA. Reproduced by<br/>
permission from the<br/>
Imperial Institute series<br/>
of Handbooks to the<br/>
Commercial Resources<br/>
of the Tropics.</p>
</div>
<p>One day, not so
many years ago, some
more ingenious native
in the hills at the back
of the Coast, filled an
old palm-oil barrel
with cacao and rolled
it down the ways to
Accra. And now to-day
it is a familiar sight
to see a man trundling
a huge barrel of cacao,
weighing half a ton,
down to the coast. The
sound of a motor horn
is heard, and he wildly
turns the barrel aside
to avoid a disastrous
collision with the new,
weird transport animal
from Europe.
Motor lorries have
been used with great
effect on the coast for some seven years; they have
the advantage over pack animals that they do not
succumb to the bite of the dreaded tsetse fly, but
nevertheless not a few derelicts lie, or stand on their
heads, in the ditches, the victims of over-work or
accident.</p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image52" id="image52"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image052.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image052_thumb.jpg" alt="SHOOTING CACAO FROM THE ROAD TO THE BEACH, ACCRA." title="SHOOTING CACAO FROM THE ROAD TO THE BEACH, ACCRA." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
SHOOTING CACAO FROM THE ROAD TO THE BEACH, ACCRA.</p>
</div>
<p>Having brought the cacao to the coast, there yet
<SPAN name="page99" id="page99"></SPAN>
<SPAN name="page100" id="page100"></SPAN>
remains the lighterage to the ocean liner, which lies
anchored some two miles from the shore, rising and
falling to the great rollers from the broad Atlantic. A
long boat is used, manned by some twenty swarthy
natives, who glory—vocally—in their passage through
the dangerous surf which
roars along the sloping
beach. The cacao is piled
high on wood racks and
covered with tarpaulins
and seldom shares the
fate of passengers and
crew, who are often
drenched in the surf
before they swing by a
crane in the primitive
mammy chair, high but
not dry, on board the
hospitable Elder Dempster
liner.</p>
<div class="rig">
<SPAN name="image53" id="image53"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image053.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image053_thumb.jpg" alt="ROLLING CACAO, GOLD COAST." title="ROLLING CACAO, GOLD COAST." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
ROLLING CACAO, GOLD COAST.</p>
</div>
<p>SAN THOMÉ
(AND PRINCIPE).</p>
<p>We now turn from the
Gold Coast and the success
of native ownership
to another part of West
Africa, a scene of singular beauty, where the Portuguese
planters have triumphed over savage nature.</p>
<p>Two lovely islands, San Thomé and its little
sister isle of Principe, lie right on the Equator in
the Gulf of Guinea, about two hundred miles from
the African mainland. A warm, lazy sea, the sea
of the doldrums, sapphire or turquoise, or, in deep
shaded pools, a radiant green, joyfully foams itself
away against these fairy lands of tossing palm,
dense vegetation, rushing cascades, and purple,
precipitous peaks. A soil of volcanic origin is
covered with a rich humus of decaying vegetation,
<SPAN name="page101" id="page101"></SPAN>
and this, with a soft humid atmosphere, makes an
ideal home for cacao.</p>
<p>The bean, introduced in 1822, was not cultivated
with diligence till fifty years ago. To-day the two
islands, which together have not half the area of Surrey,
grow 32,000 metric tons of cacao a year, or about one-tenth
of the world's production.<SPAN name="IV-6m" id="IV-6m" href="#IV-6"><small>[6]</small></SPAN>
The income of a
single planter, once a poor peasant, has amounted
to hundreds of thousands sterling.</p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image54" id="image54"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image054.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image054_thumb.jpg" alt="ROLLING CACAO, GOLD COAST. Reproduced by permission of the Editor of "West Africa."" title="ROLLING CACAO, GOLD COAST. Reproduced by permission of the Editor of "West Africa."" /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
ROLLING CACAO, GOLD COAST.<br/>
Reproduced by permission of the Editor of "West Africa."</p>
</div>
<p>Dotted over the islands, here nestling on a mountain
side, there overlooking some blue inlet of the sea,
are more than two hundred plantations, or <i>rocas</i>,
whose buildings look like islands in a green sea of cacao
<SPAN name="page102" id="page102"></SPAN>
shrubs, above which rise the grey stems of such forest
trees as have been left to afford shade.</p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image55" id="image55"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image055.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image055_thumb.jpg" alt="CARRYING CACAO TO THE RAILWAY STATION, NSAWAM, GOLD COAST." title="CARRYING CACAO TO THE RAILWAY STATION, NSAWAM, GOLD COAST." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
CARRYING CACAO TO THE RAILWAY STATION, NSAWAM, GOLD COAST.</p>
</div>
<p>Here, not only have the cultivation, fermentation
and drying of cacao been brought to the highest state
of perfection, but the details of organisation—planters'
homes, hospitals, cottages, drying sheds and the Decauville
railways—are often models of their kind.</p>
<p>Intelligent and courteous, the planters make delightful
hosts. At their homes, five thousand miles away
from Europe, the visitor, who knows what it means
to struggle with steaming, virgin forests, rank encroaching
vegetation, deadly fevers, and the physical and
mental inertia engendered by the tropics, will marvel
<SPAN name="page103" id="page103"></SPAN>
at the courage and energy that have triumphed over
such obstacles. Calculating from various estimates,
each labourer in the islands appears to produce about
1,640 pounds of cacao yearly, and the average yield
per cultivated acre is 480 pounds, or about 30 pounds
more than that of Trinidad in 1898.</p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image56" id="image56"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image056.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image056_thumb.jpg" alt="WAGON LOADS OF CACAO BEING TAKEN FROM MESSRS. CADBURY'S DEPOT TO THE BEACH, ACCRA." title="WAGON LOADS OF CACAO BEING TAKEN FROM MESSRS. CADBURY'S DEPOT TO THE BEACH, ACCRA." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
WAGON LOADS OF CACAO BEING TAKEN FROM MESSRS. CADBURY'S DEPOT TO THE BEACH, ACCRA.</p>
</div>
<p>As there is no available labour in San Thomé, the
planters get their workers from the mainland of Africa.
Prior to the year 1908, the labour system of the islands
was responsible for grave abuses. This has now been
changed. Natives from the Portuguese colonies of
Angola and Mozambique now enter freely into contracts
ranging from one to five years, two years being
the time generally chosen. At the end of their term of
work they either re-contract or return to their native
land with their savings, with which they generally buy
a wife. The readiness with which the natives volunteer
for the work on the islands is proof both of the soundness
of the system of contract and of the good treatment
they receive at the hands of the planters.
<SPAN name="page104" id="page104"></SPAN></p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image57" id="image57"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image057.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image057_thumb.jpg" alt="THE BUILDINGS OF THE BOA ENTRADA CACAO ESTATE, SAN THOMÉ." title="THE BUILDINGS OF THE BOA ENTRADA CACAO ESTATE, SAN THOMÉ." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
THE BUILDINGS OF THE BOA ENTRADA CACAO ESTATE, SAN THOMÉ.</p>
</div>
<p>Unfortunately, the mortality of the plantation
labourers has generally been very heavy, one large and
well-managed estate recording on an average of seven
years an annual death rate of 148 per thousand, and
many <i>rocas</i> have still more appalling records. Against
this, other plantations only a few miles away may show
a mortality approximating to that of an average European
city. In February, 1918, the workers in San Thomé
numbered 39,605, and the deaths during the previous
year, 1917, were 1,808, thus showing on official figures
an annual mortality of 45 per thousand. Comparing
this with the 26 per thousand of Trinidad, and remembering
that most of the San Thomé labourers are
in the prime of life, it will be seen that this death rate
represents a heavy loss of life and justifies the continued
demand from the British cocoa manufacturers
<SPAN name="page105" id="page105"></SPAN>
for the appointment and report of a special medical
commission.</p>
<p>The Portuguese Government is prepared to meet
this demand, for it has recently sent a Commissioner,
Dr. Joaquim Gouveia, to San Thomé to make a
thorough examination of labour conditions, including
work, food, housing, hospitals and medical attendance,
and to report fully and confidentially to the Portuguese
Colonial Secretary.</p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image58" id="image58"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image058.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image058_thumb.jpg" alt="DRYING CACAO AT AGUA IZE, SAN THOMÉ. The trays are on wheels, which run on rails." title="DRYING CACAO AT AGUA IZE, SAN THOMÉ. The trays are on wheels, which run on rails." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
DRYING CACAO AT AGUA IZE, SAN THOMÉ.<br/>
The trays are on wheels, which run on rails.</p>
</div>
<p>If this important step is followed by adequate
measures of reform there is every reason to hope that
the result will be a material reduction in the death
rate, as the good health enjoyed on some of the <i>rocas</i>
shows San Thomé to be not more unhealthy than other
tropical islands.</p>
<p>CAMEROONS.</p>
<p>The Cameroons, which we took from the Germans
in 1916, is also on the West Coast of Africa. It lags far
behind the Gold Coast in output, although both commenced
to grow cacao about the same time. The<SPAN name="page106" id="page106"></SPAN>
Germans spent great sums in the Cameroons in giving
the industry a scientific basis, they adopted the "estate
plan," and possibly the fact that they employ contract
labour explains why they have not had the same phenomenal
success that the natives working for themselves
have achieved on the Gold Coast.</p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image59" id="image59"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image059.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image059_thumb.jpg" alt="BARREL ROLLING, GOLD COAST." title="BARREL ROLLING, GOLD COAST." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
BARREL ROLLING, GOLD COAST.</p>
</div>
<p>Various countries and districts which are responsible
for about 97 per cent. of the world's cacao crop
have now been named and briefly commented upon.
Of other producing areas, the islands, Ceylon and
Java, are worthy of mention. In both of these (as also
in Venezuela, Samoa<SPAN name="IV-7m" id="IV-7m" href="#IV-7"><small>[7]</small></SPAN>
and Madagascar) is grown the
<SPAN name="page107" id="page107"></SPAN>
criollo cacao, which produces the plump, sweet beans
with the cinnamon "break." Cacao beans from Ceylon
or Java are easily recognised by their appearance, because,
being washed, they have beautiful clean shells,
but there is a serious objection to washed shells, namely,
that they are brittle and as thin as paper, so that many
are broken before they reach the manufacturer. Ceylon
is justly famous for its fine "old red"; along with
this a fair quantity of inferior cacao is produced, which
by being called Ceylon (such is the power of a good
name), tends to claim a higher price than its quality
warrants.</p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image60" id="image60"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image060.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image060_thumb.jpg" alt="BAGGING CACAO, GOLD COAST. Reproduced by permission of the Editor of "West Africa."" title="BAGGING CACAO, GOLD COAST. Reproduced by permission of the Editor of "West Africa."" /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
BAGGING CACAO, GOLD COAST.<br/>
Reproduced by permission of the Editor of "West Africa."</p>
</div>
<p> </p>
<h3>CACAO MARKETS.</h3>
<h3><i>From the Plantation to the European Market.</i></h3>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image61" id="image61"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image061.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image061_thumb.jpg" alt="SURF BOATS BY THE SIDE OF THE OCEAN LINER, ACCRA." title="SURF BOATS BY THE SIDE OF THE OCEAN LINER, ACCRA." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
SURF BOATS BY THE SIDE OF THE OCEAN LINER, ACCRA.</p>
</div>
<p>It is mentioned above that on the Gold Coast cacao
is brought down to Accra as head-loads, or in barrels,
or in motor-lorries. These methods are exceptional;
in other countries it is usually put in sacks at the estate.
Every estate has its own characteristic mark, which is
<SPAN name="page108" id="page108"></SPAN>
<SPAN name="page109" id="page109"></SPAN>
stamped on the bags, and this is recognised by the
buyers in Europe, and gives a clue to the quality of
the contents. There is not as yet a uniform weight for
a bag of cacao, although they all vary between one and
two cwt., thus the bags from Africa contain 1-1/4 cwts.,
whilst those from Guayaquil contain 1-3/4 cwts. In these
bags the cacao is taken to the port on the backs of mules,
in horse or ox carts, in canoes down a stream, or more
rarely, by rail. It is then conveyed by lighters or surf
boats to the great ocean liners which lie anchored off
the shore. In the hold of the liner it is rocked thousands
of miles over the azure seas of the tropics to the grey-green
seas of the temperate zone. In pre-war days a
million bags used to go to Hamburg, three-quarters
of a million to New York, half a million to Havre, and
only a trifling quarter of a million to London. Now
London is the leading cacao market of the world.
During the war the supplies were cut off from Hamburg,
whilst Liverpool, becoming a chief port for
African cacao, in 1916 imported a million bags. Then
New York began to gorge cacao, and in 1917 created
a record, importing some two and a half million bags,
or about 150,000 tons. Whilst everything is in so fluid
a condition it is unwise to prophesy; it may, however,
be said that there are many who think, now that the
consumption of cocoa and chocolate in America has
reached such a prodigious figure, that New York may
yet oust London and become the central dominating
market of the world.</p>
<h3><i>Difficulties of Buying.</i></h3>
<p>Every country produces a different kind of cacao,
and the cacao from any two plantations in the same
country often shows wide variation. It may be said that
there are as many kinds of cacao as there are of apples,
cacao showing as marked differences as exhibited by
crabs and Blenheims, not to mention James Grieves,
Russets, Worcester Pearmains, Newton Wonders, Lord
Derbys, Belle de Boskoops, and so forth. Further,
<SPAN name="page110" id="page110"></SPAN>
<SPAN name="page111" id="page111"></SPAN>
whilst the bulk of the cacao is good and sound, a little
of the cacao grown in any district is liable to have
suffered from drought or from attacks by moulds or
insect pests. It will be realised from these fragmentary
remarks that the buyer must exercise perpetual vigilance.</p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image62" id="image62"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image062.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image062_thumb.jpg" alt="BAGGING CACAO BEANS FOR SHIPMENT, TRINIDAD." title="BAGGING CACAO BEANS FOR SHIPMENT, TRINIDAD." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
BAGGING CACAO BEANS FOR SHIPMENT, TRINIDAD.</p>
</div>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image63" id="image63"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image063.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image063_thumb.jpg" alt="TRANSFERRING BAGS OF CACAO BEANS TO LIGHTERS, TRINIDAD." title="TRANSFERRING BAGS OF CACAO BEANS TO LIGHTERS, TRINIDAD." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
TRANSFERRING BAGS OF CACAO BEANS TO LIGHTERS, TRINIDAD.</p>
</div>
<h3><i>Cacao Sales.</i></h3>
<p>Before the Cocoa Prices Orders were published
(March, 1918) the manner of conducting the sale of
cacao in London was as follows. Brokers' lists giving the
kinds of cacao for sale, and the number of bags of each,
were sent, together with samples, to the buyers some
days beforehand, so that they were able to decide
what they wished to purchase and the price they were
willing to pay. The sales always took place at 11 o'clock
on Tuesdays in the Commercial Sale Room in Mincing
Lane, that narrow street off Fenchurch Street,
where the air is so highly charged with expert knowledge
of the world's produce, that it would illuminate
the prosaic surroundings with brilliant flashes if it
could become visible. On the morning of the sale
samples of the cacaos are on exhibit at the principal
brokers. The man in the street brought into the broker's
office would ask what these strange beans might be.
"A new kind of almond?" he might ask. And then,
on being told they were cacao, he would see nothing
to choose between all the various lots and wonder why
so much fuss was made over discriminating amongst
the similar and distinguishing the identical. He might
even marvel a little at the expert knowledge of the
buyers; yet, frankly, the pertinent facts concerning
quality, known by the buyer, are fewer and no more
difficult to learn than the thousand and one facts a lad
must have at his finger ends to pass the London
Matriculation; they are valued because they are inaccessible
to the multitude; only a few people have
the opportunity of learning them, and their use may
make or mar fortunes. The judgment of quality is,
<SPAN name="page112" id="page112"></SPAN>
however, only one side of the art of buying. We have
to add to these a knowledge of the conditions prevailing
in the various markets of the world, a knowledge of
stocks and probable supplies, and given this knowledge,
an ability to estimate their effect, together with
other conditions, agricultural, political and social, on
the price of the commodity. The room in which the
sales are conducted is not a large one, and usually
not more than a hundred people, buyers, pressmen,
etc., are present. Not a single cacao bean is visible,
and it might be an auction sale of property for all the
uninitiated could tell. The cacao is put up in lots.
Usually the sales proceed quietly, and it is difficult to
realize that many thousands of bags of cacao are changing
hands. The buyers have perfect trust in the broker's
descriptions; they know the invariable fair-play of
the British broker, which is a by-word the world over.
The machinery of the proceedings is lubricated by an
easy flow of humour. Sometimes a few bags of sea-damaged
cacao or of cacao sweepings are put up, and
a good deal of keenness is shown by the individuals
who buy this stuff. It is curious that a whole crowd of
busy people will allow their time to be taken up whilst
there is a spirited fight between two or three buyers
for a single bag.</p>
<p>Whilst the London Auction Sales are of importance
as fixing the prices for the various markets, and reflecting
to a certain extent the position of supply and demand,
only a fraction of the world's cacao changes
hands at the Auction Sales, the greater part of it being
bought privately for forward delivery.</p>
<h3><i>Prices and Quotations.</i></h3>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image64" id="image64"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image064.jpg">
<ANTIMG class="noborder" src="images/image064_thumb.jpg" alt="DIAGRAM SHOWING VARIATION IN PRICE OF CACAO BEANS FROM 1913 TO 1919." title="DIAGRAM SHOWING VARIATION IN PRICE OF CACAO BEANS FROM 1913 TO 1919." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
DIAGRAM SHOWING VARIATION IN PRICE OF CACAO BEANS FROM 1913 TO 1919.</p>
</div>
<p>The price of cacao is liable to fluctuations like every
other product, thus in 1907 Trinidad cacao rose to one
shilling a pound, whilst there have been periods when
it has only fetched sixpence per pound. On April 2nd,
1918, the Food Controller fixed the prices of the finest
<SPAN name="page113" id="page113"></SPAN>
<SPAN name="page114" id="page114"></SPAN>
qualities of the different varieties of raw cacao as
follows:</p>
<div class="centre">
<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
<tr>
<td align="left">British West<br/>Africa (Accra)</td><td></td><td align="left">65s. per cwt.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Bahia<br/>Cameroons<br/>San Thom�<br/>Congo<br/>Grenada</td>
<td>\<br/> |<br/> }<br/> |<br/>/</td>
<td align="left">85s. " "</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Trinidad<br/>Demerara<br/>Guayaquil<br/>Surinam</td>
<td>\<br/> }<br/>/</td>
<td align="left">90s. " "</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left">Ceylon<br/>Java<br/>Samoa</td>
<td>\<br/> }<br/>/</td>
<td align="left">100s. " "</td>
</tr>
</table></div>
<p>The diagram on p. 113 shows the average market price
in the United Kingdom of some of the more important
cacaos before, during, and after the war. The most
striking change is the sudden rise when the Government
control was removed. All cacaos showed a substantial
advance varying from 80 to 150 per cent. on
pre-war values. Further large advances have taken place
in the early months of 1920.</p>
<h3><i>The Call of the Tropics.</i></h3>
<p>Many a young man, reading in some delightful book
of travel, has longed to go to the tropics and see the
wonders for himself. There can be no doubt that a
sojourn in equatorial regions is one of the most educative
of experiences. In support of this I cannot do
better than quote Grant Allen, who regarded the
tropics as the best of all universities. "But above all
in educational importance I rank the advantage of
seeing human nature in its primitive surroundings,
far from the squalid and chilly influences of the tail-end
of the Glacial epoch." ... "We must forget
all this formal modern life; we must break away from
this cramped, cold, northern world; we must find
ourselves face to face at last, in Pacific isles or African
<SPAN name="page115" id="page115"></SPAN>
forests, with the underlying truths of simple naked
nature."</p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image65" id="image65"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image065.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image065_thumb.jpg" alt="GROUP OF WORKERS ON CACAO ESTATE. Some are standing on the Drying Platform, which is the roof of the Fermentary." title="GROUP OF WORKERS ON CACAO ESTATE. Some are standing on the Drying Platform, which is the roof of the Fermentary." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
GROUP OF WORKERS ON CACAO ESTATE.<br/>
Some are standing on the Drying Platform, which is the roof of the Fermentary.</p>
</div>
<p>Many will recall how Charles Kingsley's longing to
see the tropics was ultimately satisfied. In his book,
in which he describes how he "At Last" visited the
West Indies, we read that he encountered a happy
Scotchman living a quiet life in the dear little island
of Monos. "I looked at the natural beauty and repose;
at the human vigour and happiness; and I said
to myself, and said it often afterwards in the West
Indies: 'Why do not other people copy this wise
Scot? Why should not many a young couple, who
have education, refinement, resources in themselves,
but are, happily or unhappily for them, unable to
keep a brougham and go to London balls, retreat to
some such paradise as this (and there are hundreds like
<SPAN name="page116" id="page116"></SPAN>
it to be found in the West Indies), leaving behind them
false civilisation, and vain desires, and useless show;
and there live in simplicity and content 'The Gentle
Life'?"</p>
<h3><i>The Planter's Life.</i></h3>
<p>Few who go to the tropics escape their fascination,
and of those that are young, few return to colder climes.
Some become overseers, others, more fortunate, own
the estates they manage. It is inadvisable for the inexperienced
to start on the enterprise of buying and
planting an estate with less capital than two or three
thousand pounds; but, once established, a cacao
plantation may be looked upon as a permanent investment,
which will continue to bear and give a good
yield as long as it receives proper attention.</p>
<p>In the recently published <i>Letters of Anthony Farley</i>
the writer tells how Farley encounters in South America
an old college friend of his, who in his early days was
on the high road to a brilliant political career. Here he
is, a planter. He explains:</p>
<div class="blkquot">
<p>"My mother was Spanish; her brother owned this place. When
he died it came to me."</p>
<p>"How did your uncle hold it through the various revolutions?"</p>
<p>"Nothing simpler. He became an American citizen. When
trouble threatened he made a bee-line for the United States Consulate.
I'm British, of course. Well, just when I had decided upon a
political life, I found it necessary to come here to straighten things
out. One month lengthened itself into a year. I grew fascinated.
Here I felt a sense of immense usefulness. On the mountain side
my coffee-trees flourished; down in the valley grew cacao."</p>
<p>"I grow mine on undulations."</p>
<p>"You needn't, you know, so long as you drain."</p>
<p>"Yes, but draining on the flat is the devil."</p>
<p>"Anyhow, I always liked animals—you haven't seen my pigs
yet—and horses and mules need careful tending. A cable arrived
one morning announcing an impending dissolution. I felt like an
unwilling bridegroom called to marry an ugly bride. I invited my
soul. Here, thought I to myself, are animals and foodstuffs—good,
honest food at that. If I go back it is only to fill people's bellies with
political east wind.
<SPAN name="page117" id="page117"></SPAN></p>
<p>"To come to the point, I decided to grow coffee and cacao. I
cabled infinite regrets. The decision once made, I was happy as a
sandboy. <i>J'y suis, j'y reste</i>, said I to myself, said I. Nor have I ever
cast one longing look behind."<SPAN name="IV-8m" id="IV-8m" href="#IV-8"><small>[8]</small></SPAN></p>
</div>
<p>This is fiction, but I think it is true that very few,
if any, who become planters in the tropics ever return
permanently to England. The hospitality of the
planters is proverbial: there must be something good
and free about the planter's life to produce men so
genial and generous. There is a picture that I often
recall, and never without pleasure. A young planter
and I had, with the help of more or less willing mules,
climbed over the hills from one valley to the next.
The valley we had left is noted for its beauty, but to
me it had become familiar; the other valley I saw
now for the first time. The sides were steep and
covered with trees, and I could only see one dwelling
in the valley. We reached this by a circuitous path
through cacao trees. Approaching it as we did, the
bungalow seemed completely cut off from the rest of
the world. We were welcomed by the planter and his
wife, and by those of the children who were not shy.
I have never seen more chubby or jolly kiddies, and I
know from the sweetness of the children that their
mother must have given them unremitting attention.
I wondered indeed if she ever left them for a moment.
I knew, too, from the situation of the bungalow in the
heart of the hills that visitors were not likely to be
frequent. The planter's life is splendid for a man who
likes open air and nature, but I had sometimes thought
that their wives would not find the life so good. I was
mistaken. When we came away, after riding some
distance, through a gap in the cacao we saw across the
valley a group of happy children. They saw us, and all
of them, even the shy ones, waved us adieux.
<SPAN name="page118" id="page118"></SPAN></p>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image66" id="image66"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image066.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image066_thumb.jpg" alt="CARTING CACAO TO RAILWAY STATION, CEYLON." title="CARTING CACAO TO RAILWAY STATION, CEYLON." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
CARTING CACAO TO RAILWAY STATION, CEYLON.</p>
</div>
<div class="centre">
<SPAN name="image67" id="image67"></SPAN>
<SPAN href="images/image067.jpg">
<ANTIMG src="images/image067_thumb.jpg" alt="THE CARENAGE, GRENADA." title="THE CARENAGE, GRENADA." /></SPAN>
<p class="caption">
THE CARENAGE, GRENADA.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote">
<SPAN name="IV-1" id="IV-1" href="#IV-1m">[1]</SPAN> British Possessions.</div>
<div class="footnote">
<SPAN name="IV-2" id="IV-2" href="#IV-2m">[2]</SPAN> These figures, and others quoted later in this chapter, are
estimates given by Messrs. Theo. Vasmer & Co. in their reports.</div>
<div class="footnote">
<SPAN name="IV-3" id="IV-3" href="#IV-3m">[3]</SPAN> Cacao production in 1919: Trinidad 27,185 tons; Grenada
4,020 tons.</div>
<div class="footnote">
<SPAN name="IV-4" id="IV-4" href="#IV-4m">[4]</SPAN>
De Candolle, <i>Origin of Cultivated Plants</i>, quoted by R. Whymper.</div>
<div class="footnote">
<SPAN name="IV-5" id="IV-5" href="#IV-5m">[5]</SPAN>
"Towards this latter result Messrs. Cadbury Bros., Ltd.,
rendered great assistance. This firm sent representatives into the
country, who proved to the natives that they were willing to pay an
enhanced price for cocoa prepared in a manner suitable for their
requirements. A fair amount of cocoa was purchased by them, and
demonstrations were made in some places with regard to the proper
mode of fermentation." (The Agricultural and Forest Products of
British West Africa. <i>Imperial Institute Handbook</i>, by G.C. Dudgeon).</div>
<div class="footnote">
<SPAN name="IV-6" id="IV-6" href="#IV-6m">[6]</SPAN>
The <i>Gordian's</i> estimate for the amount exported in 1919
is 40,766 tons.</div>
<div class="footnote">
<SPAN name="IV-7" id="IV-7" href="#IV-7m">[7]</SPAN>
Robert Louis Stevenson was one of the pioneers in cacao planting
in Samoa, as readers of his <i>Vailima Letters</i> will remember.</div>
<div class="footnote">
<SPAN name="IV-8" id="IV-8" href="#IV-8m">[8]</SPAN> Quoted from the <i>New Age</i>, where the <i>Letters of Anthony
Farley</i> first appeared.</div>
<hr class="longer" />
<p><SPAN name="page119" id="page119"></SPAN></p>
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