r COCOA, the substance prepared from the seeds of the *Theobroma cacao*. When the bruised seeds are flavoured with the *Epidendrum vanilla*, mixed with a little sugar, they form the agreeable confection well known under the name of chocolate.

CÁCERES, a province of Spain, forming, by the division of 1833, the northern half of the old province of Estremadura. It is bounded north by Salamanca and Arvila, east by Toledo and Ciudad-Real, south by Badajoz, and west by Portugal, embracing an area of 615 Spanish square leagues. It contains 13 *partidos*, 226 *ayuntamientos*, 3 cities, 122 towns, and 100 villages. Pop. (1849) 264,988. See ESTREMADURA.

Cáceres, the capital of the above province, on the left bank of the Tagus, on a ridge of hills which stretch from east to west, 24 miles west of Truxillo. It is the residence of the Bishop of Coria, and contains a handsome episcopal palace. The monastery and college of the Jesuits was one of the finest in the kingdom, but has been secularized and converted into an hospital. It has a public school, a college with professorships of grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, philosophy, moral and scholastic theology, &c., a foundling hospital and several other charitable institutions. In the neighbourhood are large gardens, well cultivated fields, and extensive pasture grounds; while in the town are numerous oil and fulling mills, soap-works, and limekilns. It occupies the site of the ancient *Castra Caccilia*, and was a place of some importance both under the Romans and the Moors. Pop. 12,051.