6 
THE TROPICXL AQRIOULTURISI. 
[July i, 1891 . 
others again, more grave auil less choleric, wceo 
of opiuiou, that Coft’ce even after it had uudergoiio 
the prooBSS of roasting still retained many of it's 
oily and wholesome properties, nnd tihattho’ it inight 
not tend to improve (he health oJ pereonsof a dclicito 
frame it was very henefloial to persons of a sound 
and vigorous constitution who used (die same moderately 
and did not overload their sloraacdis with too copious 
draughts, nor with too .slroug ioftmions. Coflaa like 
medicine however healing in it’s offeots might, other- 
wise, prove injurious to heilth if uaed immoderately. 
In IC87 a small Book appeared which professed 
to treat of Coltoe, Tea, and Chocolate, hy Nicholas 
de lilegny, but it consisted in the main of extracts 
from Uu Four’s Psmphler. 
Mr Anthony Ga land wuo was also a Traveller 
in the Levant and well skilled in t ha oriental 
languages wrota likewise a treatlso on the origin 
and progress of OolToe. , . - „ 
TT« obtained sU his information from a manuscript 
in the King’s Library and. afterwards sold hiH Book 
in Paris in 169'-'. The writer of that manu.script was 
ono Ahdulcader Moliamed, whose anoeators were natives 
of Medina Ho waa born in Mesopotamia and was of ths 
sect or persuasion of lloubeli well known amongst 
the Moor-. The Title of this Hook was “Whatbo- 
hnves one most to consider and believe oonoHrmng the 
trnenatureTnd efficacy of Oolloe.” That is - Whether 
it was lawful for (he Mohimmtdam to use it. 
This little work which consisted of seven chapters 
dwelt on the Etymologvof theworil Co«f./i, the virtue of 
Coffee and the land where that beverage was (irst used. 
^It W..8 written in Egypt. Anno Ilegiim 990 or m 
the veat of the flight of Mahomed from Mecca which 
according to the reckoning of some (tlio tlioro exists 
a great difference in the osloulntioas) would answer 
oerhans tO the year of Our Lord 1578-* ft seems 
after all the Abduloader Mohamed liimself borrowed 
The anb ec’ from the writings of one Szoieli Abeddion Ibu 
Abdul Galfai-, who O" the subject long 1. doro him. 
Rid hi order to point out the exact time when a 
ri.ht knowledke of Coffee drinking was estaldishcd, it 
is iieoosiary to seek for information from a remote 
'’^nremaloddieii Aboe Abdnllali Moliamod Ibu Saib, 
of Dhabban, a town in Araliia Felix, then Muf.i of 
Aden repaired about th« middle of tho year 1400 to 
Persia and during his sojourn there, found some ofhis 
countrymen lake Coffee; bnt he ?»■' partiouhr 
attention to the circumstance at tho time; on his re- 
turn however homewards to Aden, finding himself in 
a very wiak state, be thouglit of the Ooifon which he 
saw used by his conntrym n and trlod some m the 
hone that it might do him some good and expetienee.1 
tlie r, lief that ho songht. llo l u.ther discovored mahy 
other qualities in tho Coffee, viz , that it was efficsci-- 
ous in removing h?a baches, enlivening the spirii, and 
keening ' off drowsines-. Theso stimulating qualities 
induced him an 1 a VI rviso tu partake of tho beverage 
when they went to prayers at "‘RoL 
He likewise partook of it dnring the performance 
of many other of bin devotional exercises, and since 
that time this drink became mo e gone-al in Adm 
amongst oU people of consequence, partly upon tha 
reoommondntioii of Dzemaleddien biinaelf and partly 
upon that of Mobamod of Uadramaut n town in 
Arabia Felix. - * %_• 
Prior to this period, Ooft e was not known m Arabia 
where this beau grows, ror elsowhiro in the Kiat, 
hut a curling to this A-abian wri’or. Coffee was long 
before this in use in Abyssinia, slthough Messrs. Jobus 
Ludolf Piero Tellea, and many others who had ardten 
aenuun'ts of Ethiopia made no mention thereof 
From Aden this beverage was lutroducoii into Mecca 
in 1600 where it wss not then ptopared from the beans, 
but from the shells (husks) wliioli were brought from 
Yemen; tor Mecca lies not (ns many suppose) propo ly 
in Arabia F.llx, but in the Government and dcputysliip 
of a stony region ot Arabia which some call labaniah 
and others Hinzasr siul which is situated on li a border. 
»A D. 022. Era of tho Hcgvra or flight of Mahomet 
from Mecca to Medina. Tytler’s Table of Chronology. 
Tho use of CcfVdo uow became more t?encral and 
almost every body partook of it, as he whiled away his 
time in a gsme of cho48, tzooka, the gfime of btau® or 
some other Amusement ot the kind. 
From Mecca it pA^sed to the other towns of Arabia, 
and thence to Kgypt eepocialiy to Grand Cairo; all 
which took p^ace not long efter 1511. But shortly alter 
thi< the use of Coffee (wliioh was introduoed somewhat 
later from Cairo into Turkey) wag prohibited in Egypt 
by tho ISulUu Khait liog. The Governor of Mecca 
also who held office under tho Prinoe of the CircABsian 
Mamtnoluke?, then Masters of EfrVpt, prohibited it's use 
there, Imsgining it waa wine, for ho found some people 
partook of this liquor in the Tomplo to keep theinselvei 
awftko during the rocit ition of thoir orations. In spife, 
however, of She explanation given him of the hartnleri 
qualilies of Coffije, he whs obstinate, and boing, at the 
time, quite ignoiMut of the inooouous quaUt'efl ot tho 
beverage which he supposed like wino bau an iutoxioat> 
mg effect (and the uno of wine wa-i forbidden by their 
Law) he instautly ordered tho, offenders to quit the 
Temple and warned thorn agrtinsta rccurreuoe of similar 
conduct. 
On the following day he tummonoj an assembly of 
divines and related to them what had occurred. They 
wf-ra all nnanimously of opinion that Coffee drinking 
was oppos'd to the MohammedHn Luv and coniic- 
qiiently that it ought to be aiippresaed, 
Tlioy carried this matter, however, to far greater 
leugflM hero. An inveitigation was to take place in 
order to a‘^c 8 rtain whether or not Ootfeo was detorimental 
to the body as well us tho spirit ; and it was aocordingly 
judged txpadiput to refer t ie matter to the Faculty aud 
take tlieir opinion upon the p*ii)t. 
Her* upon iho Governor sent f«>r two Persian brothers, 
the prioci]>al PhysiciHna of M« cc%, who had bub a 
^up.rtioial knowledge, of tho sriaiid one of whom had 
already written soniethiog disparagiiij^ly of Coffee, and 
subui'tted tho case to them for opiniou. They said 
that the C..ffo 6 husks being in their nsturo very cold 
and dry were detrimental and i jiirioua to lualtb; but 
a PhyKician of lingdad named Beojaazlah, who was one 
of assembly, obeervod that Coffee promolos the 
digestion of tho phlegm, and that aocording to his 
opinion it was hot and dry {oonlrary to the opinion 
ot th»i two olhers.) Tho rest concurred with him, aud 
the opinion that it was not injurious prevailed. 
The J^erHians then .said, that Heuj<i>tz uh was nusstaken, 
and that they spoke of another plant alef)gothor, which 
ho mistook Cor Ooffrtc. 
Finally, they came to the cpnelusiou, that bo tho 
ellVcts ol the Coffee good or bad, it would be tho lafest 
plan for a Mohammedan to nbst tin from tho use of it, 
especially as there sve:o gome omongst them, who placed 
Coffee amon-ist the things which disor-iored and con- 
• used the brain. (Te meer, alsoo er zominioe waren, die 
da Coji onder de dingen sUlde/if die de herssenen bed- 
weJmden.) 
The Mufti of Mecca alone, a great Jurist and Divine, 
ventured to arguo with some vehemence in favor of 
Coffee, despite the G jvonior aud the whole assemblv; but 
his opinion und nrgiiements were rejected and laid aside 
by luo Zealots of their L iw, audtheuge of and all deal- 
ings in Coffee were prohibited nndersevore punishmenl. 
Injunctions wore given the Ohinf Magistmtes to watch 
against all Infractions of tho order, aud all the Coffee 
found in Meooa was direetod to b • burnt and destroyed, 
not excepting thn Coffee in tho Watohousos, the 
property of tho Merclmufs. Bub tUeso rigorous and 
Bev<*re moanuroa did not either prevent or restrain 
those who were alptutly strongly a-idict-d (Joff^.o. 
Irom coatimiing the use of it stealthily in their houses, 
undor n coiisci usnesa, that tho prohibition was tho 
result of ftu ill-juigo<i sentence of tho assembly, 
**speciajly knowing, as they did, that the Multi 
hiniHeJi wai b) Qtruuuous an advocate for it. 
In the mean time an unfortunate delinquent fill 
into tho hands rt the Magistrate. The offender after 
being sevorrly puni.shed was as a warning to others 
mounted upon an As^, and paradt^d through all the 
streets of Mercd {op een Ezel sittendc^ door allc 
straaien van MekUa viicrd geleid.) But this state ©/ 
thiugB did not continue long, for tho yult\u of Egyp* 
