July i, 1891,] 
THE TRdPiOAL AQRiCULTUFIiST. 
far from approving the indiscreet zeal on the part 
of . his Governor, was much surprised to fiod so eervere 
a puniebmeut iuficted ou Coffee drinkers, inasmuch 
as in Cairo, where there were ao many abler Physi- 
cians than at Mecca, the opinion was in favour of 
Coffee drinking, and besides none of the teachers of 
the Blohammedan Law there considered Coffee drink- 
ing as opposed to the doctrines inculcated iu the 
Koran. For these reasons, he ordered liis Governor 
to recall and rescind the Decree, whicli ha wns obliged 
to do, tho' much against his will. 
The two Persian Physicians finding themselves mucli 
deSf/ised and looked down upon, since the recall ol 
the Decree, left Mecca for Cairo, and were there 
put to death for the imprecations hurled by tbem 
at the head of the Grand Signeur Selim 1st, who 
came to wrest Egypt from Campioni al Gauri, and 
who was the last Sultan who restored tho practice 
of Coffee drinking in Mecca." 
Part IV. 
The good people of IHecca sip Coffee ad libitum 
until a certiin Oadi shuts up all the Coffee fhops ; 
but his successor, a better man, gets them all openen 
again — Soliman the Great sends forth an Eilict de- 
nouncing thta us9 of Coffee in Mecca, .and it is 
generally believed that his Sultma is at the '^bottom 
of the dodge" — The Pacha of Egypt who is rathi r 
fond of Coffee confers with his wise men on the 
subject and comes to the conclusion that tho Great 
Soliman is a "fool and. a knave" — Mr. Anthony 
Galland again ; and some choice verses on the virtues 
of Coffee by a Turkish Bard — Constautinof le — How 
Sjenis and Hekem florished there and how their 
Coffee houses happened to be always choke-full of 
Poets, Philosophers and Che-s players — The Mosqups 
begin to be neglected the Turki.«h Divines sound the 
' Tocsin of alarm," and tho Multi or Pope thinks it 
high time to shut up the Coffee shops, and they are 
shut up accordingly — The Turks get to be excessively 
fond of the beverasre and won't give it up for " li ve 
or money" — Of a Yizier who attempted to suppress 
the free expression of public opinioa and of his two 
sons who played the part of eaves-droppera and 
brought certain innocent people into fcrape — And 
last'y of cerSaiu honest shop -keepers who took advan- 
tage of the Coffee drinking mania and soli their 
good at a high premium. 
"After the conquest — of Egypt by Selim (wtich took 
place in 1516,) it appears that Coffae druikiiig was 
more properly underst jod in Turkey, and by degrees 
the use of it became known throughout the c{juntry, 
especially as the use of Coffee was re-establised aad 
restored in Mecca, and no further questions were 
raised there up to the year 1525. The Oadi or 
Judge of tho town, however, caused all the Coffee- 
house to be closed up fhat very same year owing 
to the great irregularities which took place daily, 
but without preventing, in particluar, any person using 
the drink in his own house. Ilis successor however, 
ordered the re-opening of (the Coffee-house, forbiding 
OBly the recurrence of similar irregularities aud 
disturbances. 
From Cairo the H«e of the Coffee spread gradually, 
'ere it was known in Turkey, first to Damascus, aud 
then to \leppo, aud eventually to Constantiuople. 
Subsequently in 1541, a carvau from Damascus 
reached iJecca with an Edict; from Soliman the Great 
denouncing the use of Coffee, but this order was not 
strictly observed, as it was geiierfilly, known that it 
emanated from the Turkish Sultana, in her overwhelm- 
ing solicitude for tho Emperor, who indulged iu the 
drink. Whilst at the same time the Basbaw of Egypt 
took the opinion of all the Teachers of their La v in 
writing, shewing the vanity of such an order, and the 
ignorance of those who condemend this drink. 
Howeit theere prevailed some years aftnrwards a 
great deiversity of opinion in respect of the use of Coffee 
at Mecca; the people ofthattwon being divided into 
two parties each maintaining a different opinion. 
Thus far proceeds the account of the aforef aid Arabian 
whose manuscript Mr. Galland Lave availed himself of 
as also that of a Turkish writer uamed Pitsjevelli 
(after Pitsjeri a town in Hungary) one of the three 
Treasurers of the turkish Empire. Mr. Galland also 
obtained some information from a Poem written by Be- 
li^i, a Turkish Poet, which agrees, in substance, with 
he foregoing account, and of which I subjoin a poetical 
translation : 
Tot Halep vind m', en tot Damascus by de Grooten, 
En ook tot Cairo (daar m' el me'Je weet te ontblootea 
De Coffi— Boon van hare schil) de Coffi- vrugt 
Die 1 eve en diere drank, die welzoo'n d'epe zuat 
Uit menif? augstig hart na boven wist te haalen, 
Eer Clio by 't Turks Serail begou te Zegepraalcn. 
» * * » if 
[The following, it must; be conf'esseil, is rather a free 
r^^nderirg of the Dutch versian of this short Turkish 
Poem, from which a tev/ lines have been given above. 
Your readers will, of course, excuse the shortcomings 
of the Tracsla'or in his attempt to izive, at least, the 
Spirit of the original in English verse.] 
I sing the Coffee Plant, TThi«h, tho' oppo.s'd by Fate 
Has spread thro' ev'ry Country, City, Sta'e, 
At Halep, Cairo and Damascus too 
It has secur'd the fame which was its due. 
Say, who could estimate 
'J he. virtues of that drink 
Which made not one, 
lint many thou^amis th'nk, 
Aud write such works as made the vulgar ttare 
And lili d the woild with disputations rare ! ! 
Say, ^^ho could well descriSe its wsndrous pow'r 
To c tieer the heart in " sorrow's lonely hour " 
Sustain the drooping spirits of the fair 
Who cag'd in Harems, pine in sadness there; 
(Unhappy birds, I wish I hai the key 
To ope:i wide your doors aud bid you all be free 
Coffee ! rare plant 
Where'er thou deign'st to grow, 
Tlie source of wpalth 
To hundreds here below : 
Some thouglit that thou dids't once 
The place of wine SUjiply, 
As well as Beer 
sume will scu'ce deny. 
Whate'er thou art, fair plant. 
Of whatsoever clime, 
Thy virtues gr. at have puzzl'd oft 
The wits of olden time ; 
But now we know thee well, fair plant. 
And all thy virtues too :— 
My task is o'er, farewell my muse 
Ye Coffee, plants adieu 1 ! 1 
Prior to the yeir 1551 very little was known of 
Coffee ate onstantinople and still less of Coffeehouses 
It was the SuPana who (iid her best to put a stop 
to Coffee drinking at Mecca, but in the same year 
nearly a century after Coffee had begun to be hrst 
u.'ed_ in Aden, aud in the reign of Soliman the Great 
two individu'.ls named Sjenis aud Hakem, the former 
of Damascus, and the latter of Aleppo established 
Coffee houses in Constantinople in a certain quarl;er 
called Tahhta-Oalah, and sold the liquid to people 
of learning, Poets, Chess Players (more properly 
Szah-Players or lovers of the King's Game, for Szah 
signifies a King in the Persian language) or others 
who were molimed to amuse themselves with some 
such games. 
These houses were afterwards greatly multiplied 
and the very Turkish Courtiers resorted to them to 
regale themselves with a cup of Caweh. 
As the use of Cuffee became now more general and 
extended, these gentry were oftener to ba found iu 
the Coffee shops than at their Mosques. This gave 
rise to no small stir and grumbling amongst tho 
Turkish, Divines, who loudly declaimed the practice 
as repugnant ti the tenets of their Law, and got 
the Mufti on their side, who gave his assent to the 
shops being clo.'ed. 
Hereupon, all the Coffee houses were immediatelv 
f hul-, up, and instructions conveyed to the Chief Mas- 
istrates to see this order strictly enforced. Stern and 
absolute as this order was, it had not the effect of 
altogether putting au end to the use of Colf°e 
Under Ainnreth the III. this order was "again 
revived, but the abandonment of so agreeable a be 
verage wan not to be endured by the Turks, who bv 
bribes and tho connivance of those whose duty it 
^'l^o'iover it, still carried on tbe practice 
of Coffee drinking, though not so publicbly as before 
the order being entirely disregarded, ' 
