( 43 ) ■ . 
alfb the Procefs which lies in the Cavity of it, as iliall be prefen tly 
fliewn. The two Sides of it enter the Sulcus of the Kerneh and 
there jointly form a double Lamina^ which is from thence conti- 
nued quite over the Procefs j and to that, as well as to the reft 
of the Kernel, this Coat adheres very clofe. I have never been 
able to diftinsuifh either of theft Coats in an abortive Kernel. 
The moft ancient Author by whom I 
find the Coffee Fruit mention’d, hRanwoU 
fihSy who was in the Levant in 1573, 
he has obferv’d, that both inBignefs, Shape 
and Colour, it is like the Bay Berry. It 
is the dry’d Fruit Ramvolfins here talks of, 
and the Comparifon he makes of thefe to 
the Bay Berries, is not much amifs, only 
thefe laft are commonly larger than the en- 
tire Coffee Berries we meet with in thefe 
Parts. He adds, that the Fruit is furround- 
ed by two thin Shells, which contain two 
Grains in two diftindt Cells. Thefe two 
Shells are probably the common and firft of 
the outer Coats ; which are all that have 
been taken Notice of by any Writer fince 
his Time. What he has faid about the 
two Cells is very indiftind, and yet it is 
more than has been faid by any Body 
fince. 
Next to RaujvolJifis, is Profper Mfmm, 
who was in Egjft in 1580 j what he has 
faid about the Coffee Fruit is but very lit- 
tle, neither is it certain whether he means 
the entire Berry, or the Kernel only. 
Clujius has obferved upon this Subjed, 
that the Coffee Fruit is fmall, yet fomething 
bigger and more oblong than that of the 
with a kind of Stdeus running length- 
wife on both Sides of it, being cover’d with 
a thin Cortex of a dark afh Colour. 
Gerrard has done nothing but copy CIh- 
Jiiis’s Figures, which he has placed by Mif- 
take among the Indian Fruits ; and John- 
fenj in his Editions, has added Clu/ms's 
Text to his Figures. 
J. B. tells us that this Fruit is hardly 
bigger than the Seeds of the RIcwms, of 
the Shape of an Olive, with a Sulcus or 
Lacuna, fometimes on one Side, fometimes 
on both. By this lafl can only be under- 
fiood, that the Depreffure is not always 
alike perceivable on both Sides of the Fruit. 
This Author has likewife taken notice that 
the Fruit confifls of two Shells, whereof 
the outermoft is thick and black ; the other 
thin, and red on that Side which lies next 
the Kernel, on the upper Side of an alfi 
Colour. 
Petrus de la Valle fays only, that the 
Grains of which Coffee is made are of an 
oval Figure, and about the Bignefs of a 
fmall Olive. And Olearius compares the 
Size of it to that of a fmall Bean. 
Vejlingius informs us of the Difference 
he had obferv’d in Egypt between the Taffe 
of the Coverings and that of the Kernel. 
The firft, he fays, is in fome Degree acid, 
the other very fenfibly bitter. ThisDiftinc- 
tion we need not be very follicitous about, 
for in however great Requeff the Shells 
may be in yirahia Felix, and the Covintries 
which lie near it, on account of the Li- 
quor there made of them, call’d by way 
of Excellency, Cafe a la Sultane; yet but 
a fmall Quantity of them ever comes into 
Europe, and before they get hither they 
have pretty much loft their Tafte, and eve- 
ry other fenfible Quality that is worth 
minding about them. 
According loParkinfin, the Coffee Fruit 
is fomewhat bigger than a hazel Nut, and 
longer, round alfo and pointed at one End, 
furrow’d alfo on both Sides, yet on one 
Side more confpicuoufly than on the otlier. 
He tells us likewife, that the outer Coat is 
a thin Shell of a darkilh afh Colour, and 
the other he calls a yellowifh Skin. All 
this fliews plainly enough that Parkinjon 
had feen the Coffee Fruit, but withal, that 
he had been at very little Pains to examine 
it. 
Banejius affures us, that the intire Fruit 
is fomething like the Cacao, but cleft along 
the Middle like a Hate Stone, and cover’d 
by a Shell or Husk. 
Dr. Grew has faid nothing about the 
Coffee Fruit in particular ; but fince, by 
w'hat we fhall fee afterwards, he appears to 
have examin’d it very exactly ; and has of- 
ten declar’d, that in the far greareft Part of 
Seeds there are three Involucra, it is reafon- 
able to fuppofe that all thofe I have de- 
ferib’d were known to him. 
Dr. Robinfon, in his Letter to Mr. Ray, 
informs us that the intire Fruit is round on 
one Side, and flat on the other; but what 
we have principally to remark from this 
otherwife judicious Botanift, is the Manner 
in which he endeavours to prove that this 
Fruit is of the Nut Kind, in which I think 
he has come very far fhort of his ufual Ac- 
curacy ; * The intire Fruit, fays he, is co- 
‘ ver’d with two Skins ; the exterior Skin, 
I ‘or 
