It appeared to me to be an easy, pleasant life; the
work is all done under shade, and occupies only a few weeks in
the year. The incorrigible nonchalance and laziness of the people
alone prevent them from surrounding themselves with all the
luxuries of a tropical country. They might plant orchards of the
choicest fruit trees around their houses, grow Indian corn, and
rear cattle and hogs, as intelligent settlers from Europe would
certainly do, instead of indolently relying solely on the produce
of their small plantations, and living on a meagre diet of fish
and farinha. In preparing the cacao they have not devised any
means of separating the seeds well from the pulp, or drying it in
a systematic way; the consequence is that, although naturally of
good quality, it molds before reaching the merchants' stores, and
does not fetch more than half the price of the same article grown
in other parts of tropical America. The Amazons region is the
original home of the principal species of chocolate tree, the
Theobroma cacao; and it grows in abundance in the forests of the
upper river.
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