Page:The food of the Gods - A Popular Account of Cocoa.djvu/143

72 inhabitants of Central America to their other colonies. They found cacao a more veritable mine of wealth than even the gold, of which they procured such store. It is indeed a curious coincidence that in those countries of gold the cacao-beans were not only the form in which tribute was paid, but themselves passed as currency. On account of their use for this purpose by the Mexicans, Peter Martyr styled them amygdalœ pecuniaricœ—"pecuniary almonds"—exclaiming: "Blessed money, which exempts its possessors from avarice, since it cannot be hoarded or hidden underground!"

Joseph Acosta tells us that "the Indians used no gold nor silver to trafficke in or buy withall . . . and unto this day (1604) the custom continues amongst the Indians, as in the province of Mexico, instede of money they use cacao." The Aztecs also made use of cacao in this way, as many as 8,000 beans being legal tender—rather a task, one would imagine, for the money-changers.

In Nicaragua this practice was so general that "none but the rich and noble could afford