With the vaynilla we must speak of the cacaò, which is produced by a
tree resembling an orange tree in its leaves, but larger, and having a
kind of crown on the top. It bears a fruit like large melons, containing
oily kernels, as big as almonds, and separated from one another by a
white and very sweet skin, as by a kind of fence. The Peruvian Indians,
throwing away the kernels which they did not then know how to use in
preparing chocolate, were accustomed to chew and suck the little skin
only, which is sweeter than honey. These trees in their native woods
grow to a great size, and cover the melons which they bear so entirely
with their immense leaves, that you cannot see them without standing
close by. They never grow so large when planted in any other soil. In
Peru, amongst the Mojos Indians, in Mexico, and other countries of
America, the woods abound in this most profitable fruit: both the tree
and the kernel, however, vary in different countries.