102 THE GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



to impart a pink dye to their nails, palms of 

 their hands, and soles of their feet, and this is 

 considered a great ornament. 



Delicious, as is the perfume of the henna, 

 ' Miiother Arabian, plant, of much less outward 

 pretensions, has been far more extensively 

 beneficial' ia its utility, to man; this is the 

 coffee shrub, a native of Arabia Felix, and the 

 table-land of Ethiopia. It derives its name 

 from the province of Kaffa, where it forms 

 dense forests. The plant does not seem to have 

 been known to the Greeks and Eomans, nor 

 are there any facts known as to the origin of 

 its use in the east. The coffee plant was 

 brought from Mocha to the Botanic Garden 

 at Amsterdam, in 1690 ; and the magistrates of 

 that, city, in 1714, sent a plant of i&as a pre- 

 sent to Louis xiv. From this latter plant the 

 first coffee plants were introduced into the 

 West Indies," in 1717, where it has rapidly 

 spread, and is now extensively cultivated in 

 Jamaica, Demerara, etc. In 1718, it was in- 

 troduced by the Dutch into Surinam, from 

 whence it was quickly diffused over equinoctial 

 America. It was not known as an article of 

 diet for many centuries after the introduction 

 of sugar. The first coffee-house was opened 

 in England in 1652, and the first in France in 

 1671. That in England was commenced by 

 the Greek servant of Daniel Edwards, a Turk- 

 ish merchant ; his handbill is still extant, in 

 which he announces " the virtue of the coffee 

 drink first publiquely made and sold in Eng- 



