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 cafe 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 wooden 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 standing 

 near the fire before the boiling water is added. This latter 

 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 from 

 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-mill, which is a 

 wooden grimier, 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. 



