388 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARABIA. 



t 



Prospero Alpino, a celebrated botanist and physician of Pa- 

 dua, who resided at Cairo in 1580. It is not mentioned by 

 Belon, who has described the most remarkable plants of 

 Egypt and Arabia (A. D. 1546-49). Lord Bacon, who died 

 in 1626, and Dr. John Ray, both speak of it ; but in a man- 

 ner which shows that they had a very superficial knowledge 

 of the subject. Its quahties, however, were soon afterward 

 celebrated both by naturalists and poets. Delia Valle in- 

 sisted that it was the nepenthe of Homer, while Mons. Pas- 

 chius alleged that it was among the articles presented to 

 David by Abigail. In France it became a theme for the 

 dramatic muse ; and in 1694, Le Cafe was the most fashion- 

 able comedy in Paris. A national song under the same name 

 was written by Fuzelier, and set to music by Bernier. The 

 following stanza will suffice as a specimen : 



" Favorable liqueur, dont mon ame est ravie. 

 Par tes enchantemens augmente nos beaux jours ; 

 Nousdomptons le sommeil par ton heureux secours : 

 Tu nous rend les momens qu'il derobe a la vie. 

 Favorable liqueur, dont mon ame est ravie, 

 Par tes enchantemens augmente nos beaux jours." 



The method of roasting and sweetening it, and the praises 

 of the cups and saucers into which it was poured, were sung 

 in a heroic poem by a Jesuit of the name of Father Vaniere, 

 who thus speaks in the eighth book of his PrcBdium RuS' 

 ticum : — 



" Tritaque mox validis intra mortaria pilis, 

 Diluitur lympha ; facilique parabiiis arte 

 Vulcano coquitur, donee vas pulvis ad imum. 

 Venerit, et posito mansueverit oUula motu. 

 Fictihbus rufis pateris defunde liquores, 

 Adde peregrina dulces ab arundine succos. 

 Ora sapore caUx ne tristia laedat amaro." 



This shrub has long maintained a vast importance as an arti- 

 cle of commerce ; and though it has been transplanted to 

 various countries in Asia, Africa, and America, its chief celtb- 

 rity is derived from Arabia, where its cultivation seems to be 

 best understood. It appears originally to have grown wild in 

 Abyssinia, where the natives were in the habit of eating the 

 bean as food. They roasted and pounded it, and then mixed 



