July i, 189 i.] 
5 
tha crops are stated to be fair ; and in Negombo 
" crops damaged owing to want of rain in Sept. 
1890;" and in Kalutara rain is desirable dnring 
the third and fourth weeks of the second quarter.' 
lu the Central Province it is reported from Kandy 
that the want of rain is much felt, and the same 
complaint comes from Matale South. In other dis- 
tricts the crops have been affected not only by the 
want of timely rain but by insects. Coming now to 
tha Northern Province the remarks opposite Jaffna 
are—" Prospects generally good, the unusual raino 
in February andMarch having benefited the standing 
crops and the pasture for cattle." RegardingVavuciya 
it is said: " In a month or two food will be scarce. 
Very litile seed paddy in the district for this year's 
cultivation. From Mannar the report is the rainfall 
in the previous quarter was deficient, particulnrly 
in December, and the tanks did not fill. Very few 
remarks are made regarding any of the districts in 
the Southern Province, but regarding the Battioaloa 
district of the Eastern Province the observations 
are of a lengthy character. The following general 
remarks however is perhaps all that is necessary 
to give: — " With such favourable seasons, there is 
every prospect of a prosperous year. TraJe is 
reviving, credit restored, and money available for 
fresh investment, as evidenced by my having al 
ready received application for several hundred acroa 
of land for coconuts and paddy. Nor is this sur- 
prising, considering that a good year, such 
as the present promises to be, throws pro- 
bably an additional E800,000 into the district." 
From Trincomaleo it is reported that the water 
supply is good expect at Kantaii where it is not 
quite eufBcient. In the North Western Province it 
is reported from Kurunegala. " Weather at pre- 
sent favourable for yala cultivation, but the rain 
was too late to do any good to the miha crops." 
In other districts the supply of seed paddy is said 
to be short. In Puttalam a failure of the paddy 
and kurakkan crops was feared but they were 
saved by a heavy fall of rain towards end of Jan. 
In Ohilaw the prospects are fairly good. The 
reports from the Province of Uva vary a good deal, 
some districts suffering from drought, while others 
have had plenty of rain. In tho Province of 
Sabaragamuwa the harvest seems to have been on 
the whole good. From the North-Central Proviooe 
the report is that Chena is sufiioient for present 
needs, but that there is very little rice available at 
paddy is held up for seed for Yala sowing if the usual 
rain falls. 
VALENTYN'S HISTORY OF COFFEE. 
(Continued from page 874, Vol. X.) 
Part III. 
M. Paschius who maintained that Coffee was known 
in the time of King David — Parallel passastes from 
Scripture — The Author'.s own opinion ab mt it — Du 
Four's Book on Coffee— The Parisians believe Coffee 
to be a specie ( f.f Mulberry — The opioioan pro and con 
of divers Philosophei s, Apo'.hecarios and PhvsiciaoB ,"i5 
to thi' efF.?ct5 of Oi ff-'e drinking — Nicholas de Blegny'.s 
Ti'oatiso (yofFop, Toa and Chocolate which npp^ared 
in 1087 — Mr. Anthony Gallanu'a B jnk on Coffee — 
Abdulculer Muliamed and Abdul Gsiffar the tarlisst 
writers on tl.o subj^'cl" — Onu ilohame I Ibu S iib of 
Dhabban in Arabia F, lix g'oes over to Persia in 1406, 
imd fimls some of Ins brctbr-'n thire in the habit of 
drinkint; 0 fl' e; on hia way bacV, feeling sick, be 
thiukg of it takes a giod stroiii/ draught and finds it 
vory cllicaciiins in raisi.ig his <lroopiatf .■<2>irils — How 
tho paophi of Mecca prepared Coft e from tho husk, 
anil how they played Chess !:nd Tjjnlta and kept 
attention awako by takinij sundry sips of the beviraae 
— Tho use of Coflee prohibited in Egypt by the Sultan 
Kair Beg, and, in Mecca, by its Governor, who, despite 
the arguments of the learned, bi lieved tbat Coffee like 
W ine was intoxicating — The Governor summons an 
assembly of Divines who state their opinion The 
matter is then referred to two eminent Persian Phy- 
sicians of Mecca, brothers, who are both opposed to 
th e use of Coffee — O'le Benjaazlab, however, comes 
out strong in favor of the beverage and is backed by a 
powerful majority; but the Persians insist that Ben- 
jaazlah knows nothing about it — All concur however 
that Coffee has the effect of disordering the " Organs 
of the Brain," the Mufti of Mecca alone dissenting ; end 
the use of Cotfee is accordingly prohibited and put 
down by the strong Arm of the Law— Coffee Bibbers 
of Mecca persist nevertheless in sipping the beverage 
by stealth, at the risk of loiing their necks, and of 
being paraded thro' the Town on the hack of a Jack- 
Ass — Tlie Sultan of Kaypt takts unbrag-e at ccirtain 
assinine proceedings of his Deputy at Mecca and 
orders him fotthiuith to rescind tho obnoxious decree — 
The Deputy obeys and rescinds it accordingly — The 
Persian brothers, thus discomfited, betake themselves to 
Ciiro, where they amuse themst Ives by lampooning tha 
Grand Signeur Selira, andlose th^ir necks in the bargain. 
" A cartaiii gentleman M. Paschius by name maintains 
in bis Latin Work published at Leipsic in a. d. 1700, 
that the parched corn spoken of in Ist Simuel sxv. 
18. which Abigail, amongst her other gifts, presented 
to David to appease and avert his wrath, was no other 
than Ooffee beans. 
Of such parched mesl &c. we read in God's Holy 
Word more than once, as in Lev, vi. 21. vii. 12. and 
Ist Chron. xxiii. 29; but I cjnnot admit however, that 
by that gift of Abigail we can understand anything 
else than what the word implies, to wit, parched corn 
more especially as I find in 2ad Simuel Jtvii. 28, the 
distinction clearly drawn ; for, amongst the presents 
of Borziilai and other friends of David, mention is 
made of roasted wheat, bxrlej", and meal, and of 
parched beans and leutdes; and bonce I opine that 
they were all parched or roasted, uob excepting the 
moil and the wheat, and the passage in question 
horefoie cannot be understood as having nca o 
Coffee beans in particular. 
Hence it is clear on the one hand with reference to 
these nice distinctions, that the parched corn and 
parched beans in Abigail's gifts, cannot be understood 
to mea'i Coffee beans; but on the other hand howevre 
it appears quite evident from the same passage 2nd 
S»m. xvii. 28. that the ancients were wont to go in 
quest of a certain spocies of beans and lentiles (tha 
.same distinction being observed between lieanx and 
lentiles. Ever tince I became acquainted with Coffee 
I was nclined to believe that the beais referred to 
in this verse could be none other than Coffee beans, 
or at leat some sorst of beans used in a similar manner 
as the Coffee. I was not, however, lei to this belief 
by the strong opinions expressed by M. Pasohius or any 
other person; Out this idei occurn d to me whilst I 
was occupied in translating the Bible into tho Malay 
language about the year 1690, and it was not till 
after a careful consideration of the verse referred to 
that the idea forced itself upon me, (opgeborreld, litfr- 
aily, bubbled up, I have since adhered to this opinion 
There are others again who went still farther and 
insisted that the rod pottage, which Esau longed for 
Gon. XXV. 30., was nothing mor^ or less than liquid 
Coffee, though this does n t seem to me quite as prob- 
able as the foregoing tuppositi n. 
But to retnrutjDu Four, who asserts that Coffee 
WH8 not known in Frauce nil after 1645, and tbat 
when h" wrote Ids Bo k, ouly 25 years had elapsed 
since Coffee begxn to be u^i'd there; that even it's 
prop 3r nam) w s not known then, and that wlion it 
was first use 1 in Paris, it was believed to be a species 
of the mulboir.-. 
At a later poriol vrhen Coff e bionme more widely 
known, tho Pirlosophers, Ap jlhccaries, and Phyjiicians 
woro not unauiuious in their opinion respecting it's 
quality or its effect'. Some reje>;tod it altogether as 
a Caput Mortuuni, and honco as prejadicisl t j hcAllb. 
