COFFEE. 



223 



acre of cane, per 2 acres of cotton, and per 

 3 acres of coffee. Here 4 head would hardly 

 do the work ; slave labour is bad, and free 

 labour is worse. 



Coffee was once tried in the Island, but the 

 clove soon killed it ; now not a parcel is raised 

 for sale. The berry, which was large and flavour- 

 less, was not found to keep well. The over- 

 rich soil produces an undue luxuriance of leaf- 

 age, and the shrub lacks its necessary wintering. 



In the Brazil the richest lands are given to 

 coffee, the next best to sugar, and the worst 

 to cotton and cereals. The Zanzibar coast from 

 Mombasah to Mozambique produces small quan- 

 tities of coffee. Here great care is given to 

 it ; the berry has a peculiarly dry and bitter fla- 

 vour, pleasant when familiar, and producing when 

 first taken wakefulness and nervous excitement. 

 At present the Island imports her supplies from 

 Malabar and Yemen. The consumption is not 

 great ; the Arabs, who hold it a necessary of life 

 at home, here find it bilious, and end by chang- 

 ing it for betel-nut. The coast growth sells in 

 small lots, at various prices, and may become an 

 article of export. In the African interior the 

 shrub is indigenous between Northern Unyam- 

 wezi (S. Lat. 1° 0' ) and Southern Abyssinia (N. 



