‘ then, thefe were the only People of the Ead with which the 
‘ W'eftern Nations had any manner of Intercourfe. 
‘ There is another Objection which is harder to anfwer, and 
^ that is how the U(e of Coffee lliould not have remain’d in Spaifiy 
‘ had it ever been there in the time of the Moors. As to this I 
‘ can only fiy, that the beff: Curtoms may be loft ; and as we 
fee that even at this day the Spaniards drink but little Coffee, 
‘ they were probably at no great pains to continue the Ufe of it, 
‘ after the Moors were expell’d, as being a Liquor they were not 
‘ fond of. 
The Spaniards fay of their Chocolate, that it was the red 
^ Pottage for which Efau fold his Birth-right to Jacob 5 but as 
*• the Learned are agreed, that this Pottage was made of a kind 
‘ of Lentils, I think it ought rather to be call’d a Dilh of Colfee, 
* than any thing elfe. The roafled Grain mentioned in the Book 
of Ruth, and which Boos order’d to be given her, was undoubt- 
^ cdly roafted Coffee-Berries 5 for what other Grain could be pre- 
‘ par’d in that manner either to be eaten or drank ? And if we 
‘ add, that this happen’d in or very near the Place where Coffee 
‘ naturally grows, the Conjedure I here make will appear beyond 
' difpute.’ 
Thus fir M. Du Mont.^ and by the fame way of reafoning he 
might have prov’d, that Coffee was the firff thing Adam drank 
after his Creation, and that the firfl Coffee-Trees were planted 
in the Garden of Eden. The Turks and Arabians, upon whofe 
Informations he here builds fo much, can be no other than fuch 
Stragglers as he pick’d up at the Hague, where thefe Voyages were 
written, without the Compiler’s having ever been in the Levant. 
Petrus de Valle, the famous Italian Traveller, is inclin'd to 
carry the Knowledge of Coffee as far back as the Trojan War, 
and according to him the fair Helen with the other Ladies of Pri- 
amus's Court, ufed fometimes to drown the Thoughts of the Ca- 
lamities fhe had brought upon her Family and Country, in a Pot 
of Coffee. ^ Were it the Cuftom now a-days, fays he, to mix 
^ Coffee with Wine as is done with Water, I ffiould fancy that it 
^ might be the Nepenthe mentioned in Homer, which that Poet 
‘ tells us Helen had brought to her from Egypt^ fince it is certain 
‘ that Coffee comes to Conjlantinople from that Country 3 and as 
^ the Nepenthe was ufed to footh uneafy Cares, and divert the 
^ tirefome Hours •, fo is Coffee an Entertainment and agreeable 
^ Paftime for the Turks : It refrefhes their Spirits, enlivens their 
Converfation, and makes the Time ffy away pleafantly. In a 
( ^ word, 
