COFFEA ARABICA. 191 
Lacedemonians” Burton (Anatomy of Melancholy, folio, 388) 
has the following notice of Coffee: “The Turks have a drink 
called Coffa (for they use no wine), so named of a berry as 
black as soot, and as bitter, like that black drinke which was 
in use among the Lacedemonians, and perhaps the same which 
they sip still of, and sip as warm as they can suffer” (vide Ency. 
Metrop., art. Coffee). ‘The first European writer who mentions 
Coffee is Rauwolf, of Augsburg, who visited the Levant in 
1573; he calls it Chauba. Then Prospero Alpini, a Venetian 
physician, mentions it in his work “ De Plantis Augypti,” 1592. 
The earliest account we have of Coffee is taken from an 
Arabian MS. in the Bibliothéque Nationale of France, No. 944, 
and is as follows. 
Schehabeddin Ben, an Arabian author of the ninth century 
of the Hegira, or fifteenth of the Christians, attributes to 
Gemaleddin, mufti of Aden, a city of Arabia Felix, the first 
introduction into that country of drinking Coffee. He tells us 
that Gemaleddin, having occasion to travel into Persia, during 
his abode there, saw some of his countrymen drinking Coffee. 
In hopes of receiving some benefit from it, he determined to 
try it on himself, and after making the experiment, not only 
recovered his health, but perceived other useful qualities in 
that liquor, such as relieving the headache, enlivening the 
spirits, and, without prejudice to the constitution, preventing 
drowsiness. This last quality he determined to learn to the 
advantage of his profession; he took it himself and recom- 
mended it to the dervishes, or religious Mahometans, to enable 
them to pass the night in prayer and other exercises of their 
religion with greater zeal and attention. The example and 
authority of the mufti gave great reputation to Coffee ; some 
men of letters and persons belonging to the law adopted the 
use of it. "These were followed by tradesmen and artisans that 
were under the necessity of working at night, and such as were 
about to travel late after sunset. At length the custom became 
general in Aden, and it was not only drunk at night by those 
