56 



COFFEE. 



Of the total quantity of Indian coffee shipped in 1875 (35,000,000 lbs ), 

 about 33f million pounds went from Madras direct, and 1,184,000 

 via Bombay. The United Kingdom is the largest customer, 19^ 

 million pounds having gone there during the year. France took 

 more than 13 millions, Turkey in Europe upwards of three-quarters 

 of a million ; more than a million went to the Persian Gulf and Eed 

 Sea, and nearly 350,000 lbs. to the Mediterranean ports. The 

 balance was sent in smaller quantities to various other countries. 



The average annual exports of coffee from India since 1850 are 

 shown below in periods of five years each : 



Year. 



Lbs. 



Value. 



1851-55 



7,813,602 



£ 



94,974 



1856-60 



8,274,183 



135,263 



1861-65 



24,162,260 



555,652 



1866-70 



33,879,096 



784,727 



1871-75 



41,405,214 



1,218,867 



As compared with the year 1874 (40,815,038 lbs., value 1,491,411/.), 

 the exports in 1875 (34,925,063 lbs., value 1,305,335/.) fell off in 

 quantity, though their relative value was larger. 



Arabia. — -Before leaving the Asiatic continent, we must say a few 

 words in passing on the coffee production of Arabia. 



For ages before its use among the western nations, coffee was raised 

 on the famous hills of Yemen, in Arabia, where Niebuhr states the 

 tree was first cultivated after it was brought from Abyssinia by 

 the Arabs. The coffee gardens there are on terraces, which reach an 

 elevation of about 3000 feet. The soil is kept moist by means of 

 small artificial canals, which are made to irrigate the whole by the 

 water falling from the upj)er to the lower terraces. The trees are 

 planted so close together that the thick foliage shelters their roots 

 from the tropical heat of the sun. The fruit begins to ripen in 

 February, but the most considerable harvest is in May. When the 

 berries are dried and prepared, they are conveyed to the city of Beit 

 al Fakih, when part goes to Mocha and the rest to European markets. 



Mr. Ellis, F.E.S., in his account of Coffee, published long ago, 

 observed that the part of Arabia, from whence the Asiatic coffee is 

 brought, is for the most part extremely sandy, di'y, and hot. At 

 Batavia the soil is in general wet and deep ; and though, like other 

 eastern climates, there is a dry season, yet in the rainy periods the 

 quantity of wet that falls is excessive. The rich, luxuriant state 

 of vegetation in the island of Java, on which Batavia is situated, is 

 a proof of this assertion ; and one may safely infer, that a plant 

 brought from a dry, sterile, sandy soil, will assume not only a very 

 different appearance, but its fruit will have a very different quality 

 from that which is the produce of a fertile, moist soil, subjected to 

 equal heat. The drier the soil on which the coffee grows, the smaller 

 is its fruit, and its quality more excellent. 



It is certain that in old coffee trees the fruit is smaller ; perhaps 



