146 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1887 
ed with means of irrigation, it would pay to 
devote a few fields in localities where flocks and 
herds are kept to the growth of fodder plants to 
be cut at the proper stage and preserved green 
against seasons of drought, such as that which is 
now producing such lamentable effects in the 
tank regions in the eastern and northern portions 
of the island. 
+ . 
THE INTRODUCTION OF COFFEE INTO 
CEYLON AND INDIA. 
We take so much for granted in this world, that 
t is scarcely wonderful if we followed an authority 
like Tennent in asserting that coffee had been 
introduced into Ceylon by the Arab voyagers. We 
have been asked to point to any reliable authority and 
at the same time reminded that even into Yemen 
(ArabiaFelix) the plant was introduced from Abysinnia 
at a date so recent that the stream of Muhammadan 
voyaging to Ceylon and India had then ceased. On 
going thoroughly into the question we are reluctantly 
compelled to arrive at the conclusion that there 
is no evidence of the appearance of the coffee plant 
in Ceylon and India until early in the 18th century. 
So far as historical mention goes there is not only 
no proof that the plant was here in ante-European 
times, but no proof that Portuguese writers on 
Ceylon and India ever mentioned the plant. 
Knox, who was a captive in Ceylon in the Dutch 
period, was a very keen observer, but he says nothing 
of the existence of the plant in the Kandyan ter- 
ritories. Had it existed and had it been utilized 
only for the sake of its flowers to be laid on the 
Buddhist altars, it is scarcely conceivable that 
Knox should have missed noticing and describing it. 
Our chief English authorities on coffee in Ceylon 
are Austin, Bailey and though last not least Tennent. 
We quote what they wrote : — 
Mr. Austin, in his paper " On the Commence- 
ment and Progress of Coffee Planting in Ceylon," 
in the appendix to Lee's translation of Bibeiro, 
wrote : — 
The coffee tree was probably first intro- 
duced into Ceylon by the Arab traders, as it was 
found when the Portuguese gained •possession of the 
island ; but it seems to have been reared by the 
Ceylonese rather on account of the flower than 
the fruit, and it is a question whether they knew 
the use cf coffee as a beverage. 
When the British took possession of the Kandian 
country, they found, at a place called Hanguran- 
ketty, a considerable tract of land planted with 
coffee, under forest trees ; this went by the name 
of the King's Garden, and the flowers alone were 
used for iloral offerings in their temples. 
The coffoe tree was also found near all villages 
in the Kandian Province and trees of very great 
age may now be seen. 
The British finally took possession of the Kandyan 
country only in 1815, and by that time a century 
had elapsed since the plant had been introduced 
by the Dutch, a period sufficient to allow of the 
culture spreading into the Kandyan country and 
for the production of large trees. Mr. John Bailey 
of the Civil Service, in a note to his elaborate paper 
on irrigation, wrote : — 
Yemen, a provinco of Arabia, bordering on the Red 
Sea, whoso principal seaport is Mokha. Arabia is . 
generally supposed to havo been the nativo region 
of the Coffee tree. Thero is, however, reason to be- 
lieve, that it passed into that country from Persia, 
whose inhabitants had themselves received it from 
Ethiopia, where the people had made use of its fruits, 
from time immemorial." — (Vide Porter's Tropical 
Agriculturist, p. f>l.) Coffee was only introduced into 
Java, in 1090, by VanHooen, the Governor of Batavia 
who sent a plant to Amsterdam, whence it reached 
the West Indies. — Stated on the authority of Boer- 
haave, p. 53. The Coffee tree appears to have been 
long known to the Kandyans, but not the use of the 
berry. The leaves were cut up and chewed as an 
anti-narcotic, and the flowers offered at temples. 
We have seen that Ceylon was in constant communic- 
ation with the Persians, Ethiopians, and Arabians. 
Is it impossible that the tree was thus introduced, 
though the use of the berry was forgotten ? It ia 
scarcely possible that had the tree been introduced 
into the Kandyan country by the Portuguese or Dutch . 
that the berry should havo been unknown to the 
Kandyans, till comparatively a recent date. 
It will be observed that Mr. Bailey dealt only 
with " probabilities " and " possibilities," which 
cannot settle the question. Coffee was introduced 
into Batavia about 1690, and it 6eems to bo as 
certain as anything can be, that the Dutch did 
not grow it in Ceylon until twenty years subse- 
quently. Austin wrote about 1849 and Bailey in 
1856. Sir Emerson Tennent in his work on 
Ceylon published in 1859, (the papers by Austin and 
Bailey having been seen by him,) svrote still more 
positively, thus : — 
Although the coffee plant, the Jiaivah of the Arabs 
which is a native of Africa, was known in Yemen at 
an early period, it is doubtful whether there, or in any 
other country in the world, its use as a stimulant had 
been discovered before the beginning of the fifteenth 
century. The Arabs introduced it early into India, 
and before the arrival of the Portuguese or Dutch, 
the tree had been grown in Ceylon ; but the prepar- 
ation of a beverage from its berries was totally un- 
known to the Sinhalese, who only employed its 
tender leaves for their curries, and its delicate jas- 
mine-like flowers for ornamenting their temples and 
shrines. 
The Dutch carried the coffee tree to Batavia in 
1690, and about the same time they began its cultiv- 
ation in Ceylon. But as their operations were con- 
fined to the low lands around Negombo and Galle, 
the locolity proved unsuitable, both in temperature 
and soil. The natives, too, were unfavourably dis- 
posed to the innovation ; and although the quality 
of the coffee is said to have been excellent, it was 
found that it could not be raised to advantage in 
comparison with that of Java, where the experiment 
proved eminently successful. At length, in 1739, the 
effort was suspended ; but the systematic culture, 
although neglected by the Government, was not 
abandoned by the Singhalese ; for having learned 
the commercial value of the article, they continued 
to grow it in small quantities, and after the British 
obtained possession of Ceylon, the Moors, who col- 
lected it in the villages; brought it into Colombo 
and Galle, to be bartered for cutlery, cotton and 
trinkets. 
On the occupation of Kandy, after its cession in 
1815, the English found the coffee tree growing m 
the vicinity of the temples ; and gardens had been 
formed of it by the King on the banks of the 
Mahawelli-ganga, and close to his palace at 
Hanguran-ketti. * * * 
As to coffee, although the plant had existed from 
time immemorial on the island (having probably 
beea introduced from Mocha by the Arabs), the 
natives were ignorant of the value of its berries, 
and only used its leaves to flavour their curries, 
and its flowers to decorate their temples. It was 
not till nearly a century after the arrival of the 
Dutch that one of their Governors attempted to 
cultivate it as a commercial speculation. 
If mere tradition could be trusted, we might trace 
the introduction of coffee into British India to 
so distant a date as the middle of the 15th century - 
The tradition is thus stated : — 
A writer to a Madras paper on coffee in Mysore re- 
fers to a tradition carryiug back the introduction 
of coffee into India to 1400 a. d., as follows : — " Coffee 
is largely grown on the slopes of the Baba Buden Hills 
which derive their name from a Mohammedan hermit 
