in commerce, a kind of paste, or cake, prepared of certain ingredients, the basis of which is cacao. See CACAO.

The Indians, in their first making of chocolate, used to roast the cacao in earthen pots; and having afterwards cleared it of the husks, and bruised it between two stones, they made it into cakes with their hands. The Spaniards improved this method: when the cacao is properly roasted, and well cleaned, they pound it in a mortar, to reduce it into a coarse meal, which they afterwards grind on a stone till it be of the utmost fineness: the paste being sufficiently ground, is put quite hot into tin moulds, in which it congeals in a very little time. The form of these moulds is arbitrary: the cylindrical ones, holding two or three pounds, are the most proper; because the bigger the cakes are, the longer they will keep. Observe, that these cakes are very liable to take any good or bad scent, and therefore they must be carefully wrapped up in paper, and kept in a dry place. Complaints are made, that the Spaniards mix with the cacao nuts too great a quantity of cloves and cinnamon, besides other drugs without number, as muk, ambergrise, &c. The grocers of Paris use few or none of these ingredients: they only chafe the best nuts, which are called caraoca, from the place from whence they are brought; and with these they mix a very small quantity of cinnamon, the freest vanilla, and the finest sugar, but very seldom any cloves. In England, the chocolate is made of the simple cacao, excepting that sometimes sugar and sometimes vanilla is added. Chocolate ready made, and cacao paste, are prohibited to be imported from any part beyond the seas. If made and sold in Great Britain, it pays inland-duty £s. 6d. per lb., avoidupose: it must be inclosed in papers containing one pound each, and produced at the excise-office to be stamped. Upon three days notice given to the officer of excise, private families may make chocolate for their own use, provided no less than half an hundred weight of nuts be made at one time.

The chocolate made in Portugal and Spain is not near so well prepared as the English; depending perhaps on the machine employed there, viz., the double cylinder, which seems very well calculated for exact trituration. If perfectly prepared, no oil appears on the solution. London chocolate gives up no oil like the foreign; and it also may, in some measure, depend on the thickness of the preparation. The solution requires more care than is commonly imagined. It is proper to break it down, and dissolve it thoroughly in cold water by milling it with the chocolate stick. If heat is applied, it should be done slowly: for, if suddenly, the heat will not only coagulate it, but separate the oil; and therefore much boiling after it is dissolved, is hurtful. Chocolate is commonly required by people of weak stomachs; but often rejected for want of proper preparation. When properly prepared, it is easily dissolved; and an excellent food where a liquid nutritious vegetable one is required, and is less flatulent than any of the farinaceous.

**CHOCOLATE-NUT TREE.** See CACAO.

**CHOENIX,** xong, an ancient dry measure, containing the 48th part of a medimnum, or six bushels.

**CHOIR,** that part of the church or cathedral where choiristers sing divine service; it is separated from the chancel where the communion is celebrated, and also from the nave of the church where the people are placed: the patron is said to be obliged to repair the choir of the church. It was in the time of Constantine that the choir was separated from the nave. In the twelfth century, they began to inclose it with walls; but the ancient balustrades have been since restored, out of a view to the beauty of architecture.

**CHOIR,** in numerics, is a large hall adjoining to the body of the church, separated by a grate, where the nuns sing the office.