sugar, coffee, cacao, coca.
progress of the sugar cane throughout the tropical zone—the tahitian sugar cane—the enemies of the sugar cane—the sugar-harvest—the coffee tree—its cultivation and enemies—the cacao tree and the vanilla—the coca plant—wonderful strengthening effects of coca, and fatal consequences of its abuse.
sugar is undoubtedly one of the most valuable products of the vegetable world, and may be said with truth to be only surpassed in importance by the nourishing meal of the cereals, or the textile fibres of the cotton-plant. our garden fruit owes its agreeable taste to the sugar which the ripening sun developes in its juices. the sap of many a plant—the palm, the birch, the maple, the american agave—is rendered useful to man by175 the sugar it contains. it is this substance which imparts sweetness to the honey gathered by bees from flowers, and, after undergoing fermentation, changes the juice of the grape into delicious wine.
but although sugar is of almost universal occurrence throughout the vegetable world, yet few plants contain it in such abundance as to render its extraction profitable; and even the beet-root requires high protective duties to be able to compete with the tropical sugar-cane, a member of the extensive family of the grasses. the original home of this plant—for which, doubtless, the lively fancy of the ancient greeks, had they been better acquainted with it, would have invented a peculiar god, as for the vine or the cereals—was most probably south-eastern asia, where the chinese seem to have been the first people that learnt the art to multiply it by culture.
from china its cultivation spread westwards to india and arabia, and the conquests of alexander the great, first made europe acquainted with the sweet-juiced cane, while sugar itself had long before been imported by the phœnicians as a rare production of the eastern world.
during the dark ages which followed the fall of the roman empire, all previous knowledge of the oriental sugar-plant became lost, until the crusades, and, still more, the revival of commerce in venice and genoa re-opened the ancient intercourse between the eastern and the western world. from egypt, where the cultivation of the sugar-cane had meanwhile been introduced, it now extended to the morea, to rhodes, and malta; and at the beginning of the twelfth century we find it growing in italy, on the sultry plains at the foot of mount etna.
after the discovery of madeira by the portuguese, in the year 1419, the first colonists added the vine of cyprus and the sicilian sugar-cane to the indigenous productions of that lovely island; and both succeeded so well as to become, after a few years, the objects of a lively trade with the mother country.
yet, in spite of this extension of its culture, the importance of sugar as an article of international trade continued to be very limited, until the discovery of tropical america18 by columbus176 opened a new world to commerce. as early as the year 1506 the sugar-cane was transplanted from the canary islands to hispaniola, where its culture, favoured by the fertility of a virgin soil and the heat of a tropical sun, was soon found to be so profitable that it became the chief occupation of the european settlers. the portuguese, in their turn, conveyed the cane to brazil; from hispaniola it spread over the other west indian islands; thence wandered to the spanish main, and followed pedrarias and pizarro to the shores of the pacific. unfortunately, a dark shade obscures its triumphal march, as its cultivation was the chief cause which entailed the curse of negro slavery on some of the fairest regions of the globe.
towards the middle of the last century, the chinese or oriental sugar-cane had thus multiplied to an amazing extent over both hemispheres, when the introduction of the tahitian variety, which was found to attain a statelier growth, to contain more sugar, and to ripen in a shorter time, began to dispossess it of its old domains. this new and superior plant is now universally cultivated in all the sugar-growing european colonies; and if cook’s voyages had produced no other benefit than making the world acquainted with the tahitian sugar-cane, they would for this alone deserve to be reckoned by the political economist among the most successful and important ever performed by man.
the sugar-cane bears a great resemblance to the common reed, but the blossom is different. it has a knotty stalk, frequently rising to the height of fourteen feet, and produces at each joint a long, pointed, and sharply serrated leaf or blade. the joints in one stalk are from forty to sixty in number, and the stalks rising from one root are sometimes very numerous. a field of canes, when agitated by a light breeze, affords one of the most pleasing sights, particularly when, towards the period of their maturity, the golden plants appear crowned with plumes of silvery feathers, delicately fringed with a lilac dye.
the sugar-cane is liable to be destroyed by many enemies. sometimes herds of monkeys come down from the mountains by night, and having posted sentinels to give the alarm if anything approaches, destroy incredible quantities of the cane by their gambols as well as their greediness. it is in vain to set traps for these creatures, however baited; and the only way to177 protect a plantation and destroy them, is to set a numerous watch, well armed with fowling-pieces, and furnished with dogs.
the rat, which the extension of commerce has gradually spread over the world, is still more destructive to the sugar-cane, and great pains are taken to keep it in check by poison or by its arch-enemy the cat.
the sugar-cane is also subject to the blast—a disease which no foresight can obviate, and for which human wisdom has hitherto in vain attempted to find a remedy. when this happens, the fine broad green blades become sickly, dry, and withered; soon after they appear stained in spots, and if these are carefully examined, they will be found to contain countless eggs of an insect like a bug, which are soon quickened, and cover the plants with vermin; the juice of the canes thus affected becomes sour, and no future shoot issues from the joints. the ravages of the ants concur with those of the bugs in ruining the prospects of many a sugar-field, and often a long continued drought or the fury of the tornado will destroy the hopes of the planter.
the land crabs are also very injurious to the sugar-fields, some of the species being particularly fond of the cane, the juice of which they suck and chiefly subsist on. they are of course narrowly watched, and no opportunity of catching them is lost sight of; but such is their activity in running, that they are almost always enabled to escape. they seldom go far from their burrows in day-time; and their watchfulness is such that they regain them in a moment, and disappear as soon as a man or dog comes near enough to be seen.
harvest-time in the sugar-plantations is no less a season of gladness than in the corn-fields of england. so palatable, wholesome, and nourishing is the fresh juice of the cane, that every animal drinking freely of it derives health and vigour from its use. the meagre and sickly among the negroes exhibit a surprising alteration in a few weeks after the mill is set in action. the labouring oxen, horses, and mules, though almost constantly at work during this season, yet being indulged with plenty of the green tops and some of the scummings from the boiling-house, improve more than at any other period of the year. even the pigs and poultry fatten on the refuse, and enjoy their share of the banquet. the wholesome178 effects of the juice of the sugar-cane has not escaped the attention of english physicians, and many a weak-breasted patient, instead of coughing and freezing at home over what is ironically termed a comfortable fireside, now spends his winter in the west indian islands, chewing the sweet cane and enjoying in january a genial warmth of seventy-two degrees in the shade.
the mountain regions of enarea and caffa, which the reader, on consulting a map of africa, will find situated to the south of abyssinia, are most probably the countries where the coffee-tree was first planted by nature, as it has here not only been cultivated from time immemorial, but is everywhere found growing wild in the forests.
general fraser’s coffee estate at rangbodde, ceylon.
here also the art of preparing a beverage from its berries seems to have been first discovered. arabic authors inform us that about four hundred years ago, a learned mufti of aden, having become acquainted with its virtues on a journey to the opposite shore of africa, recommended it on his return to the dervises of his convent as an excellent means for keeping awake during their devotional exercises. the example of179 these holy men brought coffee into vogue, and its use spreading from tribe to tribe, and from town to town, finally reached meccah about the end of the fifteenth century. there fanaticism endeavoured to oppose its progress, and in 1511 a council of theologians condemned it as being contrary to the law of mahomet, on account of its intoxicating like wine, and sentenced the culprit who should be found indulging in his cup of coffee to be led about the town on the back of an ass. the sultan of egypt, however, who happened to be a great coffee-drinker himself, convoked a new assembly of the learned, who declared its use to be not only innocent but healthy; and thus coffee advanced rapidly from the red sea and the nile to syria, and from asia minor to constantinople, where the first coffee-house was opened in 1554, and soon called forth a number of rival establishments. but here also the zealots began to murmur at the mosques being neglected for the attractions of the ungodly coffee divans, and declaimed against it from the koran, which positively says that coal is not of the number of things created by god for good. accordingly the mufti ordered the coffee-houses to be closed; but his successor declaring coffee not to be coal, unless when over-roasted, they were allowed to re-open, and ever since the most pious mussulman drinks his coffee without any scruples of conscience. the commercial intercourse with the levant could not fail to make europe acquainted with this new source of enjoyment. in 1652, pasquia, a greek, opened the first coffee-house in london, and twenty years later the first french cafés were established in paris and marseilles.
as the demand for coffee continually increased, the small province of yemen, the only country which at that time supplied the market, could no longer produce a sufficient quantity, and the high price of the article naturally prompted the european governments to introduce the cultivation of so valuable a plant into their colonies. the islands of mauritius and bourbon took the lead in 1718, and batavia followed in 1723. some years before, a few plants had been sent to amsterdam, one of which found its way to marly, where it was multiplied by seeds. captain descleux, a french naval officer, took some of these young coffee-plants with him to martinique, desirous of adding a new source of wealth to the resources of the colony. the180 passage was very tedious and stormy; water began to fail, and all the gods seemed to conspire against the introduction of the coffee-tree into the new world. but descleux patiently endured the extremity of thirst that his tender shoots might not droop for want of water, and succeeded in safely bringing over one single plant, the parent stock whence all the vast coffee-plantations of america are said to have derived their origin.
on examining the present state of coffee-production throughout the world, we find that the european markets obtain their chief supplies from brazil, java, ceylon, and the west indies; but with regard to quality, mocha coffee, though comparatively insignificant in point of quantity, is still prominent in flavour and aroma.
when left to the free growth of nature, the coffee-tree attains a height of from fifteen to twenty feet; in the plantations, however, the tops are generally cut off in order to promote the growth of the lower branches, and to facilitate the gathering of the crop. its leaves are opposite, evergreen, and not unlike those of the bay-tree; its blossoms are white, sitting on short foot-stalks, and resembling the flower of the jasmine. the fruit which succeeds is a green berry, ripening into red, of the size and form of a large cherry, and having a pale, insipid, and somewhat glutinous pulp, enclosing two hard and oval seeds or beans, which are too well known to require any further description.
the seeds are known to be ripe when the berries assume a dark red colour, and if not then gathered, will drop from the trees.
to be cultivated to advantage, the coffee-tree requires a climate where the mean temperature of the year amounts to 68°, and where the thermometer never falls below 55°. it is by nature a forest tree requiring shade and moisture, and thus it is necessary to screen it from the scorching rays of the sun by planting rows of umbrageous trees at certain intervals throughout the field. these also serve to protect it from the sharp winds which would injure the blossoms. it cannot bear either excessive heat or a long-continued drought, and where rain does not fall in sufficient quantity, artificial irrigation must supply it with the necessary moisture.
181 in java the zone of the coffee-plantations extends between 3,000 and 4,000 feet above the level of the sea; and the primitive forest is constantly receding before them. frequently, on felling the woods, a part of the original trees is left standing to shade the tender coffee-plants; but oftener the rows are made to alternate with those of the sheltering dadab. thus a new and luxuriant grove replaces the old thicket of nature’s planting. straight paths, kept carefully clean, lead through the dense, dark green shrubbery, under whose thick cover the wild cock hastily retreats when surprised by the wanderer. when the trees are in flower, the branches seem to bend under a weight of snow, from the number of dazzling white blossoms, which form a pleasing contrast to the dark and lustrous foliage, while high above, the dadabs extend their airy crowns, whose light green leaves are agreeably interspersed with flowers of a brilliant red. a few months later, when the fruits are ripening into carmine a scene of the most bustling animation ensues, for old and young are busily employed in plucking the swelling berries, and hurrying with filled baskets to the nearest pulping mill.
in ceylon the native woodmen are singularly expert in felling forest trees preparatory to the cultivation of coffee. turning to advantage the luxuriance of tropical vegetation, which lashes together whole forests by a maze of interlacing climbers as firm and massy as the cables of a line-of-battle ship, their practice in steep and mountainous places is to cut half-way through each stem in succession, till an area of some acres in extent is prepared for the final overthrow. they then sever some tall group on the eminence, and allow it in its decent to precipitate itself on those below, when the whole expanse is in one moment brought headlong to the ground, the falling timber forcing down those beneath it by its weight, and dragging those behind to which it is harnessed. the crash occasioned by this startling operation is so loud that it is audible for two or three miles in the clear and still atmosphere of the hills.
like the sugar-cane, or indeed any other plant cultivated by man, the coffee-tree is exposed to the ravages of many enemies. wild cats, monkeys, and squirrels prey upon the ripening berries, and hosts of caterpillars feed upon the leaves. since 1847 the ceylon plantations have been several times182 invaded by swarms of the golunda, a species of rat which inhabits the forests, making its nest among the roots of the trees, and, like the lemmings of lapland, migrating in vast numbers when the seeds of the nillo-shrub (strobilanthes), its ordinary food, are exhausted. ‘in order to reach the buds and blossoms of the coffee, the golunda eats such slender branches as would not sustain its weight, and feeds as they fall to the ground; and so delicate and sharp are its incisors, that the twigs thus destroyed are detached by as clean a cut as if severed with a knife.’19
another great enemy of the ceylon planters is the lecanium coffeæ, a species of coccus, which establishes itself on young shoots and buds, covering them with a noisome incrustation of scales, from the influence of which the fruit shrivels and drops off. a great part of the crop is sometimes lost, and on many trees not a single berry forms from the invasion of this insect plague.
the coffee rat.
theobroma,—food for gods,—the greek name given by linnæus to the cacao or chocolate tree, sufficiently proves how highly he valued the flavour of its seeds.
indigenous in mexico, it had long been in extensive cultivation before the arrival of the spaniards, who found the beverage183 which the indians prepared from its beans so agreeable that they reckoned it among the most pleasing fruits of their conquest, and lost no time in making their european friends acquainted with its use. from mexico they transplanted it into their other dependencies, so that in america its present range of cultivation extends from 20° n. lat. to guayaquil and bahia. it has even been introduced into africa and asia, in return for the many useful trees that have been imported from the old into the new world. the cacao-tree seldom rises above the height of twenty feet; its leaves are large, oblong, and pointed. the flowers, which are of a pale red colour, grow on the stem and larger branches, and spring even from the roots. ‘never,’ says humboldt, ‘shall i forget the deep impression made upon me by the luxuriance of tropical vegetation on first, seeing a cacao-plantation. after a damp night, large blossoms of the theobroma issue from the root at a considerable distance from the trunk, emerging from the deep black mould. a more striking example of the expansive powers of life can hardly be met with in organic nature.’ the fruits are large, oval, pointed pods, about five or six inches long, and containing in five compartments from twenty to forty beans.
the trees are raised from seed, generally in places screened from the wind. as they are incapable of bearing the scorching rays of the sun, particularly when young, bananas, maize, manioc, and other broad-leaved plants are sown between their rows, under whose shade they enjoy the damp and sultry heat which is indispensable to their growth, for the theobroma cacao is essentially tropical, and requires a warmer climate than the coffee-tree or the sugar-cane.
two years after having been sown, the plant attains a height of three feet, and sends forth many branches, of which however but four or five are allowed to remain. the first fruits appear in the third year, but the tree does not come into full bearing before it is six or seven years old, and from that time forward it continues to yield abundant crops of beans during more than twenty years. when an indian can get a few thousand cacao-trees planted, he passes an idle, quiet, contented life; all he has to do is to weed under the trees two or three times in the year, and to gather and dry the seeds in the sun.
cacao is chiefly used under the form of chocolate. the184 beans are roasted, finely ground, so as to convert them into a perfectly smooth paste, and improved in flavour by the addition of spices, such as the sweet-scented vanilla, a short notice of which will not be out of place.
like our parasitical ivy, the vanilla aromatica, a native of torrid america, climbs the summits of the highest forest-trees, or creeps along the moist rock crevices on the banks of rivulets.
the stalk, which is about as thick as a finger, bears at each joint a lanceolate and ribbed leaf, twelve inches long and three inches broad. the large flowers which fill the forest with their delicious odours, are white intermixed with stripes of red and yellow, and are succeeded by long and slender pods containing many seeds imbedded in a thick oily and balsamic pulp. these pods seldom ripen in the wild state, for the dainty monkey knows no greater delicacy, and his agility in climbing almost always enables him to anticipate man.
at present the vanilla is cultivated not only in mexico, but in java, where the industrious dutch have acclimatised it since 1819. it is planted under shady trees on a damp ground, and grows luxuriantly; but as a thousand blossoms on an average produce but one pod, it must always remain a rare and costly spice.
although but little known beyond the confines of its native country, coca is beyond all doubt one of the most remarkable productions of the tropical zone.
the sultry valleys on the eastern slopes of the peruvian and bolivian andes are the seat of the erythroxylon coca, which, like the coffee-tree, bears a lustrous green foliage, and white blossoms ripening into small scarlet berries. the leaves when brittle enough to break on being bent, are stripped from the plant, dried in the sun, and closely packed in sacks. the naked shrub soon gets covered with new foliage, and after three or four months its leaves are ready for a second plucking, though in some of the higher mountain-valleys it can only be stripped once a year. like the coffee-tree, the coca-shrub thrives only in a damp situation, under shelter from the sun; and for this reason maize, which rapidly shoots up, is generally sown between the rows of the young plants.
the local consumption of coca is immense, as the peruvian185 indian reckons its habitual use among the prime necessaries of life, and is never seen without a leathern pouch filled with a provision of the leaves, and containing besides a small box of powdered unslaked lime. at least three times a day he rests from his work to chew his indispensable coca. carefully taking a few leaves out of the bag, and removing their midribs, he first masticates them in the shape of a small ball, which is called an acullico; then repeatedly inserting a thin piece of moistened wood like a toothpick into the box of unslaked lime, he introduces the powder which remains attached to it into the acullico until the latter has acquired the requisite flavour. the saliva, which is abundantly secreted while chewing the pungent mixture, is mostly swallowed along with the green juice of the plant.
when the acullico is exhausted, another is immediately prepared, for one seldom suffices. the corrosive sharpness of the unslaked lime requires some caution, and an unskilled coca-chewer runs the risk of burning his lips, as, for instance, the celebrated traveller tschudi, who, by the advice of his muleteer, while crossing the high mountain-passes of the andes, attempted to make an acullico, and instead of strengthening himself as he expected, merely added excruciating pain to the fatigues of the journey.
the taste of coca is slightly bitter and aromatic, like that of bad green tea, but the addition of lime, or of the sharp ashes of the quinoa, renders it less disagreeable to the european palate.
it is a remarkable fact that the indians who regularly use coca require but little food, and when the dose is augmented are able to undergo the greatest fatigues without tasting almost anything else. professor pöppig ascribes this astonishing increase of endurance to a momentary excitement, which must necessarily be succeeded by a corresponding collapse, and therefore considers the use of coca absolutely hurtful. tschudi, however, is of opinion that its moderate consumption, far from being injurious, is, on the contrary, extremely wholesome, and cites the examples of several indians who, never allowing a day to pass without chewing their coca, attained the truly patriarchal age of one hundred and thirty years. the ordinary food of these people consists almost exclusively of roasted maize or barley, which is eaten dry without any other addition:186 and the obstinate obstructions caused by these mealy aliments are obviated by the tonic effects of the coca, which thus removes the cause of many maladies.
tschudi often found coca the best preservative against the asthmatic symptoms which are produced by the rapid ascension of high mountains. while hunting in the puna, 14,000 feet above the level of the sea, he always drank a strong infusion of coca before starting, and was then able to climb among the rocks, and to pursue his game, without any greater difficulty in breathing than would have been the case upon the coast.
if the moderate use of coca is thus beneficial in many respects, its abuse is attended with the same deplorable consequences as those which are observed in the oriental opium-eaters and smokers, or in our own incorrigible drunkards.
the confirmed coca-chewer, or coquero, is known at once by his uncertain step, his sallow complexion, his hollow, lack-lustre black-rimmed eyes, deeply sunk in the head, his trembling lips, his incoherent speech, and his stolid apathy. his character is irresolute, suspicious, and false; in the prime of life, he has all the appearances of senility, and in later years sinks into complete idiocy. avoiding the society of man, he seeks the dark forest, or some solitary ruin, and there, for days together, indulges in his pernicious habit. while under the influence of coca, his excited fancy riots in the strangest visions, now revelling in pictures of ideal beauty, and then haunted by dreadful apparitions. secure from intrusion, he crouches in an obscure corner, his eyes immovably fixed upon one spot; and the almost automatic motion of the hand raising the coca to the mouth, and its mechanical chewing, are the only signs of consciousness which he exhibits. sometimes a deep groan escapes from his breast, most likely when the dismal solitude around him inspires his imagination with some terrific vision, which he is as little able to banish as voluntarily to dismiss his dreams of ideal felicity. how the coquero finally awakens from his trance, tschudi was never able to ascertain, though most likely the complete exhaustion of his supply at length forces him to return to his miserable hut.
no historical record informs us when the use of the coca was introduced, or who first discovered the hidden virtues of its leaves. when pizarro destroyed the empire of atahualpa he found that it played an important part in the religious rites of187 the incas, and that it was used in all public ceremonies, either for fumigation or as an offering to the gods. the priests chewed coca while performing their rites, and the favour of the invisible powers was only to be obtained by a present of these highly valued leaves. no work begun without coca could come to a happy termination, and divine honours were paid to the shrub itself.
after a period of more than three centuries, christianity has not yet been able to eradicate these deeply-rooted superstitious feelings, and everywhere the traveller still meets with traces of the ancient belief in its mysterious powers. to the present day, the miners of cerro de pasco throw chewed coca against the hard veins of the ore, and affirm that they can then be more easily worked,—a custom transmitted to them from their forefathers, who were fully persuaded that the coyas or subterranean divinities rendered the mountains impenetrable unless previously propitiated by an offering of coca. even now the indians put coca into the mouths of their dead, to insure them a welcome on their passage to another world; and whenever they find one of their ancestral mummies, they never fail to offer it some of the leaves.
during the first period after the conquest of peru, the spaniards endeavoured to extirpate by all possible means the use of coca, from its being so closely interwoven with the indian superstitions; but the proprietors of the mines soon became aware how necessary it was for the successful prosecution of their undertakings; the planters also found after a time that the indians would not work without it; private interest prevailed, as it always does in the long run, over religious zeal and despotic interdictions, and in the last century we even find a jesuit, don antonio julian, regretting that the use of coca had not been introduced into europe as well as that of tea and coffee.
when we consider its remarkable properties, it is indeed astonishing that it has so long remained unnoticed. were it concealed in the interior of africa, or extremely difficult to procure, this neglect could be more easily accounted for; but hundreds of our vessels annually frequent the harbours of peru and bolivia, where it may be obtained in large quantities, and yet its tonic and stimulating powers are but just beginning to attract the attention of the medical world.
