To avoid all this, a Dram of the Cortex reduced to a fine[1] Powder, and finely searced, and afterwards ground dry on a Porphyry, with the Cinnamon designed for a Dish of Chocolate, and mixed in the Chocolate with more Sugar than ordinary, may be taken without the least Reluctancy, and, if necessary, without being perceived: The Person will be nourished at the same time much better than with Broth, which is easily corrupted by a feverish Stomach; neither will the Particles of the Cortex offend the Stomach, being wrapped up by the Unctuosity of the Chocolate. I have cured Intermittent Fevers after this manner, nor did it ever fail of good Success.

3. The most elaborate Preparations of Steel, are not one jot the better upon that account; the simple Filings have more Vertue than was ever extorted from this Metal by any Preparation: there is nevertheless an Inconveniency in the Use of them, because all the Particles of the Steel uniting together, by their Weight, at the bottom of the Stomach, form a kind of a Cake, which fatigues it, and makes it very uneasy.

To remedy this, after the Filings have been ground into a very fine Powder upon a Porphyry; you must mix it with the Cinnamon, when you make your Chocolate, and it is certain that the Particles of the Steel will be so divided and separated by the Agitation of the Mill, and so entangled in the Chocolate, that there will be no danger of a future Separation. Besides, the aromatick Particles of the Cinnamon, and the alkaline ones of the Chocolate, will not a little add to the Strength and Operation of this Remedy.

4. After this manner may you mix with the Chocolate the Powders of Millepedes, Vipers, Earthworms, the Livers and Galls of Eels, to take away the distasteful Ideas that the Sick entertain against these Remedies.

5. The Use of Milk is a specifick Remedy for the Cure of several Distempers, but by Misfortune there are but few Stomachs that can bear it, and several Methods have been try'd to find out Help for this Inconvenience. Without troubling myself to mention or examine them, will it not be an easy and natural Method, to hinder the Milk from curdling on the Stomach, to pour a hot Dish of Chocolate upon a Pint or Quart of Milk? The butirous Parts of the Milk and Chocolate, are in reality analogous to each other, and very proper to be united for the same Purpose; and what is bitter and alkaline in the Chocolate, ought necessarily to hinder the curdling of the Milk in the Stomach. It is easy to confirm by Experience the Reasoning upon this sort of Chocolated Milk.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This, if true, overturns what has been said about the Mechanical Cure of an Ague, by Quincy, who pretends that the Vertue of the Cortex lies in its Texture, which this Preparation destroys.



CHAP. III.

Of the Oil or Butter of Chocolate.

Chocolate Kernels are a Fruit very oleaginous, but the Oil is very closely united with the other Principles, that it requires a great deal of Labour to separate it, and to make it pure. The three common Ways to extract Oils, are by Distillation, Expression, and Decoction; we reject the first as being very imperfect, because the Violence of the Fire alters the Nature of all Oils that are extracted that way. The Success will answer no better by Expression, because that which is got will be very impure and in very small Quantity. There then remains no way but by Decoction, to draw out this essential Oil that we are in quest of, which is the true and the only way, for it gives it in its utmost Purity without any Alteration.

They take Chocolate that is roasted, cleaned, and ground upon the Stone, they throw the Paste into a Pan of boiling Water over a clear Fire; they let it boil till almost all the Water is consumed, then they pour more Water upon it till the Pan is full; the Oil ascends to the Top in proportion as the Water cools, and grows to the Consistence of Butter. If this Oil is not very white, it needs only be melted in a Pan full of hot Water, where it will be disengaged and purified from the red and terrestrial Particles that remain.

At Martinico this Oil is of the Consistence of Butter, but brought into France, it becomes almost as hard as Fromage, or French Cheese, which melts nevertheless, and becomes liquid with a moderate Heat: it has no very sensible Smell, and has the good fortune never to grow rank; I have some of it now by me, that has been made this fifteen Years. One Year, when Oil of Olives failed us, we used that of Chocolate during the Time of Lent. It is very well tasted, and very far from being hurtful; it contains the most essential and most healthful Parts of the Chocolate.

I had the Curiosity to examine it by a Chymical Analysis; I put three Ounces into a little Glass Cucurbit placed in the Heat of Ashes, there drop'd from it an oily Liquor, which congealed as it fell down, and which did not differ from the Butter that I have described, but by a light Impression made upon it by the Fire. I only observed, that there was at the bottom of the Receiver, two or three Drops of a clear Liquor, which tasted a little acid, but very agreeable.

As this Oil is very anodyne, or an Easer of Pain, it is excellent, taken inwardly, to cure Hoarseness, and to blunt the Sharpness of the Salts that irritate the Lungs. In using, it must be melted and mix'd with a sufficient Quantity of Sugar-Candy, and made into Lozenges, which must be held in the Mouth as long as may be, before they melt quite away, swallowing it down gently.

Oil of Chocolate also taken seasonably, may be a wonderful Antidote against corrosive Poisons.

Its Vertues are no ways inferior, if used outwardly.

1. It is the best and most natural Pomatum for Ladies to clear and plump the Skin when it is dry, rough, or shrivel'd, without making it appear either fat or shining. The Spanish Women at Mexico, use it very much, and it is highly esteem'd by them. If it is thought too hard, it may be softened with Oil of Ben, or Oil of Sweet Almonds, cold drawn.

2. I am persuaded if the antient Custom of the Greeks and Romans, of anointing their Bodies with Oil, was revived, there is nothing would answer their Expectations better, in augmenting the Strength and Suppleness of their Muscles, and preserving them from Rheumatisms and other torturing Pains. The leaving off this Practice, can be attributed to nothing else but to the ill Smell and other Properties that attended it; but if Oil of Chocolate was used instead of Oil of Olives, those Inconveniences would be avoided, because it has no Smell, and dries entirely into the Skin: nothing certainly would be more advantageous, especially for aged Persons, than to renew this Custom, which has been authorized by the Experience of Antiquity.

3. Apothecaries ought to make use of this preferably to all others, as the Basis of their Apoplectick Balsams; because all other Oils grow rancid, and the Oil of Nutmegs, though whiten'd with Spirit of Wine, always retains somewhat of its natural Smell, whereas Oil of Chocolate is not subject to any of these Accidents.

4. There is nothing so proper as this to keep Arms from rusting, because it contains less Water than any other Oil made use of for that purpose.

5. In the American Islands they make use of this Oil to cure the Piles; some use it without Mixture, others melt two or three Pounds of Lead, and gathering the Dross, reduce it into fine Powder, and after it is finely searced, incorporate it with this Oil, and make a Liniment of it very efficacious for this Disease. Others for the same Intention mix with this Oil the Powder of Millepedes, Sugar of Lead, Pompholix, and a little Laudanum.

Others use this Oil to ease Gout Pains, applying it hot to the Part, with a Compress dip'd in it, which they cover with a hot Napkin. It may be used after the same manner for the Rheumatism.

6. Lastly, This Oil enters the Composition of the wonderful Plaister, and the Pomatum against Tetters. You will find their Description and Properties among the Remarks at the End of this Treatise.



REMARKS Upon some PLACES of the TREATISE upon Chocolate.

REMARK I.

The Coco-tree is the same as the Palm-Tree so famous in the East-Indies; its Fruit is call'd Coco, and care should be taken that it be not confounded with Cocao. I make this Remark, because I find that William Dampier very improperly calls[a] Coco's Cocao-Nuts, and the Tree that bears them a Cocao.

REMARK II.

They have transported these great Trees from St. Domingo to the Vent Islands; their Leaves being almost round, are firm and so smooth, that one would think they had been varnished. Their Fruit are sometimes as large as one's Head, and their Skins very thick: When that is taken off, the Pulp is very near the Colour, Smell, and Taste of our Apricocks; in the Middle there are four Stones as big as Pullets Eggs, which are difficult to separate from the Fruit. They are eaten with Wine and Sugar; they make also very good Marmalade.

REMARK III.

The Calebash-Tree is nigh as large as the Apple-Tree; it supplies the Natives and Negroes with Buckets, Pots, Bottles, Dishes, Plates, and several other Houshold Utensils. One cannot describe the Shape nor Bigness of Calebashes, since there are some of the Size of a Pear, and others as large as the greatest Citrons; and besides, there are long, round, oval, and of all Fashions. The Fruit, which is green and smooth upon the Tree, becomes grey as it dries; within, it is full of a white Pulp, of no use at all, which they take out through a Hole; the Shells they put to several Services. The Bark is about one Fifth of an Inch thick, but very hard, and difficult to break.

REMARK IV.

The Papaw-Tree is pretty uncommon as to its Make; its Trunk is strait, but hollow, and of so tender a Wood, that it is easily cut down with a Hedging-Bill; it is about four Yards high, without any Branches; its Leaves much like those of our Fig-Trees, but twice as big, and are joined to the top by Stalks of a Foot and a half long, and hollow like a Reed. They being about thirty in number, grow at the top of the Trunk all round about it; the lowest are ripest and largest, they are green, and of the bigness of one's Fist. The Pulp, which is but half an Inch thick, is like that of a Melon, but of a sweet faintish Taste; but it makes a pretty good Confection, of a fine green Colour.

There is another kind of Papaw-Tree, whose Fruit is as large as a Melon, and better tasted than the former.

REMARK V.

The Banane is a sort of Plant, whose Root is a great round Bulb, from whence proceeds a Trunk, green and smooth, six Feet high, as thick as one's Thigh, and without any Leaf. On the top of it grow about twenty Leaves, about a Foot and a half broad, and about five Feet long; but so tender, that the Wind tears them from the Middle to the Sides, into Slangs like Ribbons: From the Center of these Leaves grows a second Trunk, more firm than the rest of the Plant: upon this grows a Cluster of about forty or fifty Bananes, sometimes more, sometimes less. A Banane is a Fruit as thick as one's Arm, about a Foot long, and a little crooked. They gather this Cluster green, and hang it up in the Ceiling; and as the Bananes grow yellow, or mellow, they gather them. When this Cluster is taken away, the Plant withers, or they cut it down at the Root; but for one Trunk lost, the Root sends forth five or six more.

Besides these Bananes, there is a Fruit call'd Banane-Figs; but the Plants that produce them are very little different: The Figs are much less than the Bananes, being but four or five Inches long. The Fig is more delicious, but the Banane is thought to be more wholesome, and the Pulp more solid. They roast them upon a Grid-Iron, or bake them in an Oven, they eat them with Sugar and the Juice of an Orange. The Banane done in a Stew-Pan in its own Juice, with Sugar and a little Cinnamon, is excellent.

REMARK VI.

Manioc is a Shrub very crooked, and full of Knots, its Wood is tender and brittle, and the Branches are easily broke off into Slips: There are several and different Colours, some more forward and fruitful than others. Commonly they are pluck'd up in a Year or thereabouts; and there is found at every one, several plump Roots, without any sensible Fibres, more or less thick, according to the Kind and the Goodness of the Soil. These Roots are wash'd in a good deal of Water, to free them from the Earth; and after they are scraped with a Knife like wild Turnips, they grate them; that is to say, they rub them hard with great Copper Graters, which the French call Grages, just as they do Quinces to get out the Juice. This grated Manioc is put in the Press in Sacks made of coarse Hemp, or Rushes, to get out the superfluous Moisture, which is not only unwholesome, but poisonous. This, thus press'd, they take from the Sacks, and pass it through a coarse Sieve called Hibichet; they afterwards bake it two several ways, to make what they call Cassave, or Meal of Manioc.

In the first place, when they would make the Cassave, they spread the sifted Manioc upon a Plate of Iron over a clear Fire, which they tapping down with the Ball of their Hands, make a broad Cake about half an Inch thick, and two Feet in diameter; and when it is baked on one side, they turn it on the other: and if they would keep it any time, they dry it in the Sun.

In the second place, when they would make what they call the Meal, they put the Manioc, grated, pressed, and sifted, as before, upon a great Copper Plate four Feet in diameter, with a Brim five or six Inches high, and placed upon a Brick Furnace: They stir it continually with a wooden Spatula, that it may not stick and be baked all alike. This Meal resembles Bread grosly crumbled, and may be kept a long while in a dry Place. The Natives do not trouble themselves to make the Meal; they only eat Cassave, which they bake every day, because, when it is hot, it is more agreeable and palatable.

If they leave the expressed Juice of Manioc to settle, it lets fall a Faecula to the bottom, called Moussache, which they afterwards dry in the Sun: it is as white as Snow, of which they make very good Cakes, called in those Parts, Craquelins.

The Laundresses use this Faecula instead of Starch, to starch their Linnen. Some Inhabitants mix one Third of this with two Thirds of French Meal, and make Bread that is very white, and well tasted.

REMARK VII.

At first sight, one would take a Balize-Tree for a Banane, they are so like each other: there is, however, this difference between them, That the Leaves of the Balize-Tree are not so tender, and apt to be tore; for this reason, they serve the Natives for Table-Cloths and Napkins, as well as the Negroes, and some of the Planters that live in the Woods. Sometimes they serve as Umbrella's to shade them from the Sun, or Showers of Rain, that surprize them.

The Hunters have great assistance from this Plant; for sometimes finding themselves pressed with Thirst, in Places at some distance from Rivers or Fountains, they give the Trunk of a Balize a Slash with a Knife, and immediately hold their Hat, or a Cup, which catches a clear, good, and cool Water, even in the greatest Heat.

REMARK VIII.

Pimento, called also Jamaica-Pepper, has been brought into France, where it grows, as in America, in pyramidal Cods of three or four Inches long: they are at first green, then yellow, afterwards red, and last of all, black. They pickle them in Vinegar, as they do Capers and little Cucumbers. There are in America several other Kinds of Pimentoes, and especially one that is round, and as red as a Cherry. This is the hottest of all, it sets the Mouth all on fire; for which reason it is called the mad Pimento. The Natives eat nothing without Pimento, it is their universal Seasoning, it serves them instead of Salt, and all Oriental Spices.

REMARK IX.

Achote is best known in France, under the Name of Roucou, and is a sort of Red which the Dyers and Painters make use of. It is the favourite Colour of the Savages, which they are very careful of planting in their Gardens, that they may paint their Bodies every Morning, which they call Roucouing.

Roucou is planted of a Kernel much after the same manner as the Cocao-Tree. The Shrub that is most like it in Europe, is the Lilach, or the Arabian Bean. Its Leaves, of the Shape of a Heart, are longish, pointed, and placed alternately; its Blossoms grow in Bunches at the end of the Boughs, they are white, mix'd with Carnation, like the Flowers of the wild Rose-Tree. In the middle, there is a Tuft of yellow Stamina with red Points; when these Blossoms fall off, there appears tawny Buds, beset with fine Prickles: These Buds grow to be Shells, which, when ripe, open on the upper side, and discover within, two Rows of Pippins, almost like little Peas, cover'd with Vermilion, which sticks to the Fingers, when touch'd, and leaves the Pippins quite, when wash'd with warm Water. The Water being settled, they pour it off gently by degrees, they dry the Colour in the Shade that fell to the bottom of the Vessel; and this is the true Roucou, without any Mixture. The Physicians in these Parts prescribe it to cut and attenuate thick and tough Humours, which cause difficulty of Breathing, Retension of Urine, and all sorts of Obstructions[89].

REMARK X.

Atolla is a kind of Gruel which they make with Meal of Maise, (which is the same as our Indian Corn, or Turkey Millet.) The Mexicans season it with Pimento; but the Nuns and Spanish Ladies, instead of Pimento, use Sugar, Cinnamon, perfumed Waters of Amber, Musk, &c. In these Parts, they make the same Use of Atolla, as of the best Rice in the Levant.

REMARK XI.

One ought to chuse the smallest Cinnamon, the highest coloured, and of the most biting Taste, as well as sweet and spicy, because a great Part is full of Pieces, from whence they have drawn the Essence, and has neither any Colour nor Taste, but that of the Wood. To help and amend both, there needs only a Clove to be ground in the Mortar, with an Ounce of Cinnamon. This Spice is best that comes from the East-Indies, it has nothing of Acrid in it, and contains an oleous Volatile, which agrees very well with that of Chocolate. Cinnamon also has always kept its Place in all the Compositions of Chocolate.

FOOTNOTES:

[a] New Voyage round the World, Tom. 1. Chap. 10.

[89] Thomas Gage, Tom. 1. Part 2. Pag. 142.



MEDICINES In whose Composition OIL or BUTTER OF CHOCOLATE Is made use of.

The Wonderful Plaister for the Curing of all sorts of Ulcers.

Take Oil-Olive a Pound, Venetian Ceruss, in Powder, half a Pound.

Put them in a Copper Pan, or a glazed Earthen one, upon a clear moderate Fire, stirring them continually with a wooden Spatula till the Mixture is become black, and almost of the Consistence of a Plaister, (which you may know by letting fall two or three Drops upon a Pewter Plate; for if they grow cold immediately, and do not stick to the Fingers, when touch'd, it is done enough.) Then must be added,

Of Bees-Wax cut in little Bits, an Ounce and a half.

Oil or Butter of Chocolate, an Ounce.

Balsam Capivi, an Ounce and a half.

When they are all melted and mixed together, the Pan must be taken off the Fire; and stirring constantly with the Spatula, you must add the following Ingredients, reduced into a fine Powder separately, and then well mixed together.

Lapis Calaminaris, heated in the Fire, and then quenched in Lime-Water, and ground upon a Porphyry, one Ounce.

Myrrh in Drops, } Aloes Succotrine, } of each two Round Birthwort, } Drams. Florentine Orris, }

Camphire, a Dram.

When they are all well incorporated together, they must cool a little, and then be poured upon a Marble to be made into Rolls, after the ordinary Manner.

* * * * *

I have seen such surprizing Effects from this Emplaister, that I am almost backward to mention them, lest they should seem incredible. It cures the most stubborn and inveterate Ulcers, provided the Bone is not carious: for in this Case, lest you should lose your Labour, you must begin with the Bone, and then apply the Plaister. The Place must be dress'd Morning and Evening after it is clean'd with Lime Water, and wiped well with a Linnen Cloth.

The same Plaister may serve several Times, provided it be washed with Lime Water, wiped with a Rag, and held to the Fire a Moment before it is apply'd.

I exhort charitable People to make this Plaister and give it to the Poor, especially those that live in the Country; they will draw down a Thousand Blessings in this Life, and the Lord will recompence them hereafter.

An excellent Pomatum for Ringworms, Tettars, Pimples, and other Deformities of the Skin.

Take Flowers of Brimstone[a], Salt Petre purified, of each Half an Ounce; good White Precipitate[b], two Drams; Benzoin or Benjamin, a Dram.

Beat the Benjamin and Salt-Petre a good while in a Brass Mortar, till they are reduced into a very fine Powder, then mix the Flower of Brimstone and White Precipitate with them and keep this Powder for Use.

* * * * *

At Martinico when I had occasion to make use of it, I incorporated it with Butter of Chocolate; but in France, I substitute the best-scented Jessamin Pomatum: This Smell, joined with that of Benjamin, corrects the Smell of the Brimstone, which some Persons abhor.

I cannot sufficiently recommend this Pomatum, which always succeeds well, and I have often found it beneficial when every thing else fail'd.

You must not wonder if on the first, and sometimes the second Day, the Tettar seems more lively, or the Complection more dull; it is a sign that the Malignity is drawn out, and that the Seeds of it are destroy'd: you must therefore take heed of desisting, for the Skin in a little Time will be render'd as even and smooth as you can desire.

FOOTNOTES:

[a] To wit, those that are made in Holland, if they can be got.

[b] To know if the Precipitate be good, you may do thus; Put a little upon a live Coal, if it flies away, it is good; if it stays behind, it is nothing but powder'd Ceruss, or some such thing.



FINIS.