INTRODUCTION OF COFFEE INTO ARABIA. 217 



resembling tea is made from the leaf by the Arabs in the 

 interior*. 



Mr. Vaughan gives also some abstracts from De Lacy's 

 1 Chrestomathie arabe/ in which it is stated, on the autho- 

 rity of some Arabian authors, that coffee was not introduced 

 into Arabia by Mohammed Dhabhani, as it was generally 

 stated, but by the learned and godly Ali Shadeli ibn Omar. 

 In the days of Mohammed Dhabhani, kat, which previous 

 to that time was used, had disappeared from Aden. <l Then 

 it was that the Sheik advised those who had become his 

 disciples to try the drink made from the boonn (coffee- 

 berry), which was found to produce the same effect as the 

 kat, including sleeplessness, and that it was attended with 

 less expense and trouble. The use of coffee has been kept 

 up from that time to the present." 



As the custom of drinking coffee originated in Abyssinia, 

 it appears more probable that it was introduced into Arabia 

 from this country, and not from Persia. 



My friend Professor Theodores has informed me that 

 the beverage made from the boonn is called kahwa. This 

 word is derived from ikha, dislike or distaste, i. e. for 

 eating and sleeping. 



* Pharm. Journ. Trans, xii. p. 268 (1852-53). 



SER. III. VOL. VIII. Q 



