RUBIACE^. 



161 



snpplieil from Soutli America and the East India islands. The principal coffee- 

 growing regions are Brazil, (iuatemala, Cul)a, British West Indies, St. Do- 

 mingo, Java, Padang, Sumatra, Maccassar, Ceylon, British India, and Manilla. 



Etymology. — Coffee is said to have derived its name from the Turkish 

 qaveh, a decoction of berries. The common name is a corruption of the 

 botanic name. The specific name of the princijjal species comes from Arabia, 

 where it was first used. 



History. — Persia, the home of delicious fruits, seems to have given birth 

 to coffee. Thence sometime in the fifteenth century it was carried by Magal- 

 leddin Mufti of Aden into Arabia Felix, where it was first used, not as a 

 beverage, but for medicinal purposes. 



Coffee was not known in commerce till 

 about the middle of the sixteenth century, 

 w^hen it became an article of trade in the 

 markets of Constantinople. 



The government of Syria forbade its use, 

 ostensibly because of its intoxicating quali- 

 ties. After its introduction into Constanti- 

 nople, the Mohammedan priests complained 

 that the mosques were neglected, while the 

 coffee-houses were thronged. The govern- 

 ment interfered and forbade its sale, and a 

 strict police espionage was instituted ; but 

 as it was found impossible to suppress its 

 sale, the state levied an excise tax on it, 

 and thus reaped a large income from it. 



Coffee is consumed in Turkey in large 

 quantities. There was a time w^hen it was 

 regarded as so necessary to the people that 



it became one of the legal causes for divorce when a man refused to furnish 

 his wife with coffee. 



Thougli the coffee tree in cultivation is supposed to have been brought to 

 Arabia from Persia, yet there is good reason to believe that it i.s indigenous 

 in Arabia Felix, and in Africa, on the opposite shores of the Bed Sea. Kan- 

 wolfins took it into Europe in 1573 ; hut its introduction is traced also to the 

 Dutch, who procured berries at Mocha, which were planted at Batavia. In 

 1690, a plant was sent to Amsterdam, which was planted and bore fruit (under 

 glass). 'I'he seeds of this fruit were then planted, and many young trees were 

 produced therefrom. These trees were sent to the gardens in the Dutch pos- 

 sessions in the East Indies, and some of the plants were presented to Louis 

 XIV, by the Dutch authorities ; these were placed under the charge of Jussieu, 

 by whom young plants were sent to the French West Indies, whence the coffee- 

 tree has spread, not only throughout the islands, but to the continent of South 

 America. 



All the coffee grown in the new world is said to have sprung from a single 

 plant which a French naval officer carried to Martini(|ue in 1720, depriving 

 himself of water when parching with thirst in order to nourish his coffee-plant. 

 From this tree, it is said, all the American troj)ical colonies obtained their 

 .seed, which has nuiltijdiod to such an extent that Brazil, Mexico, and the 

 West Indies jiroduce as much coffee as Java and Ceylon. 



It is not known when coffee came into use in western Europe as a bev- 

 erage. The Venetians, who traded with the East, no doubt first used it 

 Pk. Fl. — 12 



CoFFEA (Coffee). 



