EARLY HISTORY. 



claim will support them for a whole day, when on a 

 marauding incursion or in active war, better than a loaf 

 of bread or a meal of meat, because it cheers their spirits 

 as well as feeds them." 



From Ethiopia, the Coffee-plant is claimed to have 

 been introduced into Abyssinia as early as A. d, 875, 

 while, according to Lagrenie, Coffee has been known and 

 used in Abyssinia, from the very earliest times, quoting 

 the Abbe Raynal, a missionary to that country in the latter 

 part of the sixteenth century, to that effect, stating that 

 " he procured some of the berries from cultivated plants, 

 and made a trial of them, finding them larger, rather longer 

 and quite as fragrant as those obtained from Arabia.'' 

 From Abyssinia it was evidently first introduced into 

 Arabia, but at what period of the world's history, or 

 under what circumstances is also lost in doubt. Tradi- 

 tion never at a loss for some marvelous story ascribes 

 its first discovery in the latter country to a Dervish, who 

 in the year 1275 was driven out of Moka, pursued and 

 surrounded by his enemies in the adjacent mountains. 

 In the extremity of hunger he is said to have gathered 

 some Coffee-berries and eaten them, then, steeping some 

 of the parched berries in some water to allay his thirst, 

 he accidentally discovered their agreeable flavor and 

 nutritious properties. While another Arabian legend 

 attributes its first discovery as an alimentary infusion 

 in that country to a Mollah named Chadeley, who on 

 being informed by a goat-herd of the peculiar and 

 exciting effect produced on his goats, whenever they 

 happened to browse on the leaves and fruit of a certain 

 kind of tree, resolved to test their virtues on his monks, 

 with whom it is related he had considerable difficulty in 

 keeping awake during their nocturnal devotions. Pre- 

 paring an infusion from the berries of the plant indicated. 



