Hot and cold qualities

De hoc celeberrimo semine, & quod in nostram vsque tempestatem, & nummi & vini apud illos subeat vicem, agendum est, ab ipsa arbore sumpto initio. Est ergo Cacaua Quahuitl arbor, amplitudine, & folijs mali Medicæ, longè tamen maioribus, atque amplioribus. fructu oblongo, Peponi magno simile, sed striato, & rufo, Cacauacentli nuncupato: semine Cacahuatl pleno, quod semen, vt diximus, Mexicanis pro nummo est, materiemq. potionis eidem genti gratissimè præbet. Substantia idem constat pulpa in dispares diuisa particulas, sed probè compositas inter se, tenera, multi nutrimenti, subamara, subdulcique & temperata natura, aut paululum frigida, atque humenti.

I must speak of this famous seed, which among them still takes the place of both money and wine, and I will begin with the tree itself. The cacaua quahuitl is a tree the size of a citron tree, with leaves like a citron's but much larger and broader. Its fruit is long, like a large melon, but ridged and reddish; it is called cacauacentli. It is full of the seed cacahuatl, which, as I have said, is money to the Mexicans and the stuff of a drink they love. The seed is made of a pulp divided into uneven pieces that fit closely together. It is tender, very nourishing, a little bitter and a little sweet, and temperate in nature, or a little cold and moist.

Nascitur in calidis, feruidisq. regionibus, locis vliginosis, aquosis, & humectantibus. Acuta igitur ægritudine laborantibus, exhiberi solet ex eo semine parata potio, cui nihil præterea commixtum sit, contemperando æstui, ac feruori placando, & his quos calida intemperies epatis, alteriusuè partis vexat. Si verò quatuor granis vnica vncia misceatur gummi eius, quod vocant Olli, bibaturq. dysentericus affectus mirè coercetur. verum sunt gummi ipsum, ipsaq. grana prius torrefacienda. grana siquidem adeo pinguia sunt, vt exprimere, si libeat, possis ab eis oleum. gummi verò tenacissima, & valde glutinosa vi præditum. nimius autem huius potionis vsus viscera obstruit, colorem inficit, & ad Cachexiam, & insanabiles alios morbos ducit.

Cacao grows in hot, sweltering regions, in marshy, wet and damp places. For people suffering from an acute illness, a drink made from the seed alone, with nothing else mixed in, is given to cool their heat and calm the fever, and to those troubled by a hot distemper of the liver or some other part. If one ounce of the gum they call olli is mixed with four grains and drunk, it checks dysentery wonderfully well. But the gum and the grains must first be roasted. The grains are so oily that you could press oil out of them if you liked, and the gum is very tough and sticky. Too much of this drink, however, blocks the inner organs, spoils the complexion, and leads to wasting and other incurable diseases.

Aliud genus fit ex quinque & viginti granis Cacauapatlactli, totidem Cacauatl, frumenti verò Indici pugillo vno. huic nihil addi solet ex prædictis, illa siquidem calida sunt. ex hac autem potione sola infrigidatio, & nutritio quæritur. Tertium verò Chocolatl vocatum, paratur ex granis Pocholt, & Cacauatl æqua mensura, quod magnopere traditur corpora impinguare, si frequentius ea vti contingat. Ergo contrita omnia in fictili funduntur, agitanturq. ligneo pistillo, donec portio pinguior magisq. spectans ad aeream naturam innatet. quam seponunt, ac seorsim collocant, residuoq. immiscent frumenti prædicti emolliti pugillum vnum. Postquam verò in liquorem sorbitioni idoneum omnia sunt redacta, id pinguedinis quod separauerant, rursus commiscent, atque ita demum tepidum potant, aut alijs sorbendum propinant. Hectica febre consumptis, tabidis, atque extenuatis mirè vtile.

Another kind is made from twenty-five beans of cacauapatlactli, as many of cacauatl, and one handful of Indian grain. None of the things named above is added to it, since they are hot; people want this drink only to cool and nourish them. The third kind, called chocolatl, is made from beans of pocholt and of cacao in equal measure. It is said to fatten the body a great deal if one drinks it often. All the ingredients are ground, put into an earthen pot and stirred with a wooden pestle until the fatter, lighter part floats to the top. They skim this off and set it aside, and into the rest they mix a handful of the softened grain. When everything has become a liquid thin enough to sip, they stir the fat they had set aside back in. Then at last they drink it warm, or offer it to others to drink. It is wonderfully good for people worn out, wasted and thin from a lingering fever.

Cunctorum ergo generum folia Solano similia sunt, & pene paria (si Quauhchilli excipias, quæ minora eadem fert) & flores candidi. è quibus siliquæ oriuntur, primo virides, mox maiori ex parte in rubrum, & demum in passeum inclinantes colorem, refertæ paruo semine, exili, candicante, contuso, atque in orbem efformato, acris gustus, atque vrentis naturæ; quæ ad semen præcipue attinet. Quartum hæ caloris gradum attingunt, & tertium fere siccitatis. etsi recentes excrementitio quodam humore abundant, qui totus pene vetustate euanescit.

The leaves of all the kinds are like nightshade and nearly the same size, except those of quauhchilli, which are smaller. The flowers are white. From them grow pods, green at first, then mostly turning red and at last the color of raisins. They are full of small, thin, whitish seeds, flat and round, sharp to the taste and burning in nature; the seed above all is like this. The pods reach the fourth degree of heat and about the third of dryness, although when fresh they are full of a waste moisture, which almost all disappears with age.

Es tierra sana, avnque algunas vezes enferman los naturales de dolor de cabeza y calenturas, las quales enfermedades curan con yerbas y rayzes de calidad fria.

The land is healthy, though sometimes the natives suffer from headaches and fevers. They cure these illnesses with herbs and roots of a cold nature.