THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 67 



The use of coffee spread very early and with great rapidity in the 

 East. It penetrated Europe much more slowly, and it was first taken 

 in France at Marseilles. 



Coffee was first drunk in Paris in 1667. The seeds which furnished 

 it were brought in small quantity by a French traveller named Theve- 

 not. Two years afterward, in 1669, Soliman Aga, ambassador of the 

 Sublime Porte in the time of Louis XIV., induced the courtesans of 

 that great king to taste it, and they found it very agreeable. How- 

 ever, its use did not spread for a long time. It. was not until the 

 eighteenth century that it began to be generally used. 



You see that coffee has not been very long in circulation. In fact, 

 it is scarcely a century and a half since it became an article of general 

 consumption by the people of Europe. 



Well, during many years Europe remained tributary to Arabia for 

 this commodity. All the coffee consumed in Europe came from Arabia, 

 and particularly from Mocha. Toward the commencement of the 

 eighteenth century the Dutch attempted to import it into Batavia, one 

 of their colonies in the Indian Archipelago. They succeeded very 

 well. From Batavia some stalks were taken to Holland and put in a 

 hot-house, where they succeeded equally well. One of these stalks 

 was brought to France toward 1710, and was placed in the conserva- 

 tory of the Jardin des Plantes, and there also it prospered and gave 

 birth to a certain number of sprouts. 



In 1720 or 1725 (I have not been able to find the precise date), an 

 officer of the French Navy, Captain Desclieux, thought that, since Hol- 

 land had cultivated coffee at Batavia, he might also acclimate it in our 

 colonies of the Gulf of Mexico. When embarking for Martinique, he 

 took from the Jardin des Plantes three stalks of coffee, and carried 

 them with him. The voyage was long and difficult, by reason of con- 

 trary winds. The supply of water proving insufficient, it was neces- 

 sary to put the crew on rations. Captain Desclieux, like the others, 

 had but a small quantity of water to drink each day. He divided it 

 with his coffee-plants. Notwithstanding all his care, two died on the 

 passage ; only one arrived safe and sound at Martinique. Put at once 

 into the earth, it prospered so much and so well that from it have de- 

 scended all the coffee-trees now spread over the Antilles and tropical 

 America. Twenty years after, our Western colonies exported millions 

 of pounds of coffee. 



You see the coffee-tree, starting from Africa, has reached the ex- 

 tremity of Asia on the east and America on the west. Hence, it has 

 nearly travelled round the world. Now, in this long voyage, coffee has 

 become modified. 



Passing by the tree, of which we know little, let us consider the 

 seed. We need not be grocers to know the different qualities of cof- 

 fees and their different production. Nobody would confound Mocha 

 with Bourbon, Rio Janeiro with Martinique. Each of these seeds car- 



