178 



THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



effects of the juice of the sugar-cane has not escaped the atten- 

 tion of English physicians, and many a weak-breasted patient, 

 instead of coughing and freezing at home over what is ironically 

 termed a comfortable fireside, now spends his winter in the 

 West Indian Islands, chewing the sweet cane and enjoying in 

 January a genial warmth of seventy-two degrees in the shade. 



The mountain regions of Enarea and Caffa, which the reader, 

 on consulting a map of Africa, will find situated to the south 

 of Abyssinia, are most probabl}^ the countries where the coffee- 

 tree was first planted by Nature, as it has here not only been 





GEXERATv FRASER S COFFEE ESTATE AT RAXGBODDE, CEYLON. 



cultivated from time immemorial, but is everywhere found 

 growing wild in the forests. 



Here also the art of preparing a beverage from its berries 

 seems to have been first discovered. Arabic authors inform us 

 that about four hundred years ago, a learned mufti of Aden, 

 having become acquainted with its virtues on a journey to the 

 opposite shore of Africa, recommended it on his return to tlie 

 dervises of his convent as an excellent means for keeping 

 awake during their devotional exercises. The example of 



