390 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARABIA. 



and easily separated into two halves. There are two or three 

 crops in the year ; . and it is quite common to see fruit and 

 flowers on the same tree ; but the first produce is always the 

 best. May is the proper harvest month ; the berries are 

 shaken from the branches on cloths spread underneath ; they 

 are then dried in the sun ; after which a heavy roller of 

 wood or stone is passed over them, to separate the bean from 

 the husk.* All the Arabs are extravagantly fond of coffee • 

 yet less of it is drunk in Yemen than in the other provinces. 

 The flavour is greatly improved by their mode of preparing 

 it : instead of grinding the beans in a mill, they pound them 

 to an impalpable powder in a close mortar, which seems bet- 

 ter to express and preserve from evaporating those oily par- 

 ticles that give the decoction its peculiar relish. They also 

 use a preparation from the husks, called caft a la sultane, 

 which is made by pounding and roasting them, and is es- 

 teemed an excellent beverage. The greatest care is taken 

 of the powdered coffee, which is kept closely pressed down 

 in a wooden box, and the quantity required for use is scraped 

 from the surface with a w^ooden spoon. Two small pots are 

 often used ; in the one the water is boiled (generally mixed 

 with the remains of the preceding meal) ; into the other is 

 put the fresh coffee, and it is sometimes heated by standino- 

 near the fire before the boiling water is added. This lattet- 

 mixture is then boiled two or three times ; care being taken 

 to pour a few drops of cold water upon it the last time, or to 

 place over it a linen cloth dipped in cold water. After this 

 process it is allowed to subside, and then emptied into the 



* In the West Indies this operation is performed by a mill 

 composed of two wooden rollers furnished with iron plates 

 eighteen inches long and ten or twelve in diameter. These 

 moveable rollers are made to approach a third, which is fixed, 

 called chops ; between these the fruit falls from a hopper, where 

 it is stripped of its first skin, and divided into two parts. Out of 

 this machine it falls into a brass sieve, which separates it fron; 

 the husks. It is then thrown into a vessel full of water, where 

 it soaks for one night, and is afterward thoroughly washed and 

 dried. Another machine, called the peeling-miU, which is a 

 wooden grinder, turned vertically upon its axis by a mule or 

 horse, is employed to strip the thin pellicle from the bean ; and 

 after this process it is winnowed by slaves, who set the air in 

 motion by turning rapidly four tin-plates fixed upon an axle. 



