DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY. 3 



lat. 6 to 12 an elevation of from 3000 to 4000 feet is 

 the most suited, whilst beyond this 500 feet of eleva- 

 tion should be allowed for every degree of latitude. It 

 is now an ascertained fact, that much of the far-famed 

 Mocha coffee is produced in India and shipped from 

 Bombay to Mocha, and no inconsiderable portion also 

 comes from the low land of Cafe and Buarea in Africa. 

 The excellence of Mocha coffee appears to exist more in 

 the method of curing than from any other cause. 



There is quite as much variance of opinion as to the 

 facts of the discovery and use of coffee as a beverage, 

 as there is regarding its nomenclature, the oft-repeated 

 fable of the effect of the leaves being first discovered 

 in goats which had been browsing on the leaves, would 

 not account for the use of the roasted seed ; whilst un- 

 fortunately for the propagators of this tale it is well 

 known that no animal will eat the coffee leaf, cattle 

 passing through an estate may take a few leaves as 

 they pass, but fortunately for the planter the tree 

 itself has few enemies, and estates are left without 

 fence or hedge of any kind with impunity. Sambur, 

 deer, bison, and wild hog, pass through estates with- 

 out doing any injury, except occasionally rubbing their 

 horns or antlers against the bushes, and perhaps tast- 

 ing a few leaves. It appears most probable that as in 

 almost every other case of human food, necessity was 

 the mother of invention. The fruit itself is beautiful 

 in appearance, and sweet and luscious to the taste, 

 and when it was once discovered that it contained a 

 bean, nothing would be more natural than that its use 

 should be economized and various modes of cooking 

 be attempted, until the present process had been 



