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When the house for the factory was finished, and the ships laden, Alonso left there Antonio de Sola as factor, with two clerks, Rodrigo Aranso and Lopo Rabelo, an interpreter named Medera, and two friars to serve as chaplains, together with other assistants, being twenty in all; after which he returned to Cochin.
Some perhaps would have attributed the phenomenon to a comet, like that Sir William Beeston who, writing in 1664, says 'About this time appeared first the comet, which was the forerunner of the blasting of the cacao- trees, when they generally failed in Jamaica, Cuba, and Hispaniola. But no comet seems to have appeared in 1725 whereon to lay the blame; and therefore Father Gumilla, the Jesuit, may have been excused for saying that the failure of the trees was owing to the planters not paying their tithes; and for fortifying his statement by the fact that one planter alone, named Rabelo, who paid his tithes duly, saved his trees and his crop.
But Senor Rabelo had planted another variety, called Forestero, from the Brazils, which was at once of hardier habit, inferior quality, and slower ripening. Hence his trees withstood the blight: but, en revanche, hence also, merchants would not buy his crop before it was picked: thus his duty became his necessity, and he could not help paying his tithes.
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