The Nome daily nugget., 1935-02-16
Prepared by National Geographic Society.
 Washington, D. C.-WNU Service.

washington, ID! C.-WNU service. .O YOU like hot chocolate
 candy? Chocolate cake? Or chocolate lice cream sodas? Then you'll be interested in the news that science is waging a de- termined fight to save the famous cacao plantations of Trinidad. an island in the West Indies, from a destructive plant disease.
 Trinidad is one of the principal sources of the bean which furnishes ''the makings" for a hot beverage surpassed in world importance only by coffee and tea, as well as for candies, sweetmeats, etc.
 Chocolate was gift to mans pal ate from the western hemisphere. Like tobacco, the potato, and num- Der of other plant products. 1t was taken back to Europe by explorers soon after Columbus opened the road to the new world, and launched on the way that has led to world markets.
 In trade circles today three terms are used: chocolate. cocoa and ca cao. The tropical tree which Is the source of chocolate is called the ca cao. In its leathery, cucumberlike fruit are cacao pods which contain cacao beans. But when the beans are roasted and ground, and much of the fat Is pressed out, the re- maining brown substance (ground to a dry powder), is cocoa. If the fat is not pressed out, the darker substance Is chocolate.
 Credit for the manufacture of chocolate from the hidden seed of an unprepossessing fruit belongs to the original inhabitants of Mexico. In 1519. when Hernando Cortez in vaded that country, he discovered that the cacao tree was widely cul- tivated. The natives had concoct- ed a drink called "chocolatl" or "cacahuatl," from which have come the names chocolate" and "cocoa." Frothfng pitchers of chocolate were served by Montezuma when he en- 7tertained Cortez.
 Long In Use In Mexico.
 Students of American native GUS toms have estimated that the drink was in use 1000 years before the arrival of Europeans. According to Mexican mythology, the seed of the cacao tree was carried from New world version of the Garden of Eden into Mexico by Quetzal- coatl. God of Air. The fruit, 1t Is related, was favorite food of the gods. The great Swedish bot anist Linnaeus, christened the fruit theobroma cacao, meaning in Greek Food of the Gods"
 Cacao was used as a means of barter and the payment of tribute by the Aztecs and Mayans. A mans wealth was often judged by the number, of cacao beans he pos sessed. In Mexico good slave could be purchased for 100 beans.
 It's highly concentrated food value, low cost of production. and numerous uses, have stimulated ca cao cultivation to such an extent that now 1t is grown in practically all tropical countries. The wet tropical areas of the West African colonies of Great Britain and Port ugal, and the South and Central Americas are especially we'll suited to the cultivation of the trees.
 The introduction of the cacao tree in Africa has resulted in a remark able growth of the industry and eco homie development of the continent. The Gold coast has taken first place away from Brazil in the worlds production of cacao. What were once trackless and useless African jungles. inhabited only by savage bushmen and wild animals. today are cacao plantations.
 America Largest Consumer.
 As an International commodity, the cacao bean has grown In impor- tance to such an extent that the United States alone, in 1883, import ed 474,270,OO0 pounds. valued at SIS, 900. The United States is by far the largest consumer, cacao ranking sixteenth in value on our list of imports. Germany. Great Britain and the Netherlands follow in the order named.
 For many years the Spaniards of South America and some of the West Indies monopollzed the cacao industry. Chocolate was introduced Into Spain by Cortez and his con quistadores about the beginning of the Sixteenth century, but the proc ess of chocolate manufacture was kept . secret for almost 100 years. In 1o06 an Italian discovered the method of preparation. Shortly aft erwards, monks and travellers spread the news throughout Europe. The Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries found the popularity of the drink steadily increasing. Cocoa houses were established in England, as we'll as on the continent.