Good ~medium Thomas~ is the commercial designation of those cacaos hailing from small plantations which have undergone a scarcely sufficient preparation owing to the lack of proper apparatus, and which are always interspersed with black or sham beans. In so far as these are delivered from large plantations, they generally owe their origin to overripe fruit, probably overlooked in the gathering season; or fruits bitten by the rats which infest this island may also contribute such beans. Almost all these inferior cacaos are sorted in the Lisbon custom-houses, and thinned down to the quality “Medium Thomas” free from objection or “Good Medium Thomas The two months of the Summer harvest, July and August, supply a somewhat better variety of cacao, known in commerce as “Pajol”, i. e. literally, “Hailing from the country”, which generally fetches a rather higher price. During the Winter harvest from November to February the medium St. Thomas varieties come on the market, but not before the beginning of the year, as previous to that point of time only the regular harvest of ~Fine St. Thomas~ comes into consideration. All attempts on the part of consumers to effect an improvement in the quality of the medium varieties have unfortunately hitherto proved abortive, for they are regarded as by-produce on the larger estates, and the small ones do not possess the apparatus necessary for a thorough preparation. Then again it is seen that these inferior sorts are taken off the market at very reasonable prices. Fernando Po, a mountainous island, situated immediately off Cameroon, may be regarded as a source of supply for the Motherland, Spain, and only as such, for its yearly output of 2500 tons need fear no competition, thanks to the excessive tariffs laid on the produce of other lands here. The qualities here are inferior to those from St. Thomas and Cameroon, chiefly because most plantation are in the hands of blacks and consequently not well managed. ~German East Africa~, ~Madagascar~, ~Mayotta~ (Comoren) and ~Réunion~ with their dwarfish yield are only worthy of passing mention. III. Asiatic Cacao Sorts. The only cacao plantations deserving the name on the continent of Asia are those occurring on the two islands of Ceylon and Java, both producing a sort differing entirely from the Africans, the predominant seedling here planted being the Trinidad-Criollo. The Ceylon-Java bean is, like the genuine Criollo, oval shaped, inclining to a sphere; its kernel is light brown and among the finer sorts even whitish. So both varieties are principally used for colouring and covering the cacao mass, for neither has a very pronounced flavour. The shell is light brown or reddish brown after washing, and appears free from all traces of pulp. It sits loosely on the kernel, at least in the case of the Java bean, and is consequently often met with broken.