[m] I can't imagine upon what Foundation _Oexmelin_ could assert, that the _Spaniards_ in the making of their Chocolate, used nothing but this longish Grain, which he calls _Pignon_. Au Milieu desquelles Amandes de Cacao, est, _says he_, un petit Pignon, qui a la Germe fort tendre, & difficile a conserver; c'est de cette Semence que les Espaniols font la celebre Boisson de Chocolat. _Oexmelin_ Histoire des Avanturers, _Tom. 1. pag. 423_. He confirms more plainly the same Fancy, _Pag. 426_. CHAP. II. Of the Choice and Disposition of the Place for Planting _Cocao-Trees_. The _Cocao-Tree_ grows naturally in several Countries in _America_ under the Torrid Zone, but chiefly at _Mexico_, in the Provinces of _Nicaragua_ and _Guatimala_, as also along the Banks of the River of the _Amazons_[n]. Likewise upon the Coast of _Caraqua_, that is to say, from Comana to Cartagena[o] and the _Golden Island_. Some also have been found in the Woods of _Martinico_. The _Spaniards_ and _Portuguese_ were the first to whom the _Indians_ communicated the Use of _Cocao-Nuts_, which they kept a long time to themselves without acquainting other Nations with it; who in reality know so little of it at this day, that some _Dutch_ Corsairs, ignorant of the Value of some Prizes they had taken, out of contempt cast the Merchandize into the Sea, calling it in derision, in very indifferent _Spanish_, _Cacura de Carnero_[p], The Dung of Beasts. In 1649[q] in the _Vert_ Islands, they had never seen but one Tree planted, which was in the Garden of an _English-Man_, an Inhabitant of the Island of _St. Croix_[r]. In 1655, the _Caribeans_[s] shewed to M. _du Parepet_ a _Cocao-Tree_ in the Woods of the Island of _Martinico_, whereof he was Governour. This discovery was the Foundation of several others of the same kind, in the Woods of the _Cape Sterre_[t] of this Island. And it is probable that the Kernels which were taken out of them, were the Original of those _Cocao-Trees_ that have been planted there since. A _Jew_ named _Benjamin_ planted the first about the Year 1660, but it was not till twenty or twenty-five Years after, that the Inhabitants of _Martinico_ apply'd themselves to the Cultivation of _Cocao-Trees_, and to raise Nurseries of them. When one would raise a Nursery, it is necessary, above all things, to chuse a proper Place, in respect of Situation, and a Soil agreeable to the Nature of it. The Place should be level, moist, and not exposed to Winds; a fresh, and (if one may be allow'd the Expression) a Virgin Soil, indifferently fat, light, and deep. For this reason, Ground newly cleared, whose Soil is black and sandy, which is kept moist by a River, and its Borders so high as to shelter it from the Winds, especially towards the Sea Coast, is preferable to any other; and they never fail putting it to this Use, when they are so happy as to find any of this sort.