Before proceeding to a closer acquaintance with the origin of cocoa, it may be well to clear the ground of possible misconceptions which occasionally cause confusion. [Illustration--Drawing: THE COCO-NUT PALM.] First, there is the word "cocoa" itself, an unfortunate inversion of the name of the tree from which it is derived, the cacao.[4] A still more unfortunate corruption is that of "coco-nut" to "cocoa-nut," which is altogether inexcusable. In this case it is therefore quite correct to drop the concluding "a," as the coco-nut has nothing whatever to do with cocoa or the cacao, being the fruit of a palm[5] in every way distinct from it, as will be seen from the accompanying illustration. [Illustration--Drawing: COCO-DE-MER.] The name "coco" is also applied to another quite distinct fruit, the _coco-de-mer_, or "sea-coco," somewhat resembling a coco-nut in its pod, but weighing about 28 lbs., and likewise growing on a lofty tree; its habitat is the Seychelles Islands. Sometimes also, confusion arises between the cacao and the coca or cuca,[6] a small shrub like a blackthorn, also widely cultivated in Central America, from the leaves of which the powerful narcotic cocaine is extracted. [Illustration--Drawing: LEAVES AND FLOWER OF THE CUCA SHRUB.] In the second place, the name "cocoa," which is strictly applicable only to the pure ground nib or its concentrated essence, is sometimes unjustifiably applied to preparations of cocoa with starch, alkali, sugar, etc., which it would be more correct to describe as "chocolate powder," chocolate being admittedly a confection of cocoa with other substances and flavourings. [Illustration--Black and White Plate: Gathering Cacao: Santa Cruz, Trinidad.] "Chocolate" is, therefore, a much wider term than "cocoa," embracing both the food and the drink prepared from the cacao, and is the Mexican name, _chocolatl_, slightly modified, having nothing to do with the word cacao, in Mexican _cacauatl_.[7] In the New World it was compounded of cacao, maize, and flavourings to which the Spaniards, on discovering it, added sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and other ingredients, such as musk and ambergris, cloves and nutmegs, almonds and pistachios, anise, and even red peppers or chillies. "Sometimes," says a treatise on "The Natural History of Chocolate," "China [quinine] and assa [foetida?]; and sometimes steel and rhubarb, may be added for young and green ladies." In our own times it is unfortunately common to add potato-starch, arrowroot, etc., to the cocoa, and yet to sell it by the name of the pure article. Such preparations thicken in the cup, and are preferred by some under the mistaken impression that this is a sign of its containing more nutriment instead of less. Although not so wholesome, there could be no objection to these additions so long as the preparations were not labelled "cocoa," and were sold at a lower price. [Illustration--Drawing: PURE DECORTICATED COCOA, HIGHLY MAGNIFIED.]