JWLY I, 1891.] 
THE TROPICAL AQRTOOLTURIST. 
S 
the crops i»re stated to be lair ; and ia Negombo 
" crops damaged owing to want ol rain in Sept. 
18!>0; " and in Kalutsra rain is desirable dnriog 
the third and fourth weeks ol the second quarter.’ 
In the Central Province it is reported from Kandy 
that the want of rain ia much felt, and the same 
complaiat comes from .Matale South. In other dis- 
tricts the crops have been aOeoted not only by the 
want of timely rain but by insects. Coming now to 
the Northern Province the remarks opposite Jaffna 
arc— “ Prospects generally good, the unusual raino 
in February andMarcb having benefited the standing 
crops and the pasture for cattle.” BegardingVavuniya 
it is said : “ lu a month or two food will be scarce. 
Very little seed paddy in the district lor this year’s 
cultivation. From Mannar the report is the rainfall 
in the previous quarter was deficient, particularly 
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 Battiosloa 
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 ia 
every prospect ol a prosperous year. Trade is 
reviving, credit restored, and money available for 
fresh investment, as evidenced by my having al 
ready received application lor several hundred acres 
of land lot ooconuts and paddy. Nor ia this sur- 
prising, considering that a good year, such 
as the present promises to be, throws pro- 
bably an additional 11800,000 into tli« district.” 
From Triucomaleo it is reported that the water 
supply is good expect at Kantali where it is not 
quite euffloient. 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 maha crops.” 
In other districts the supply ol seed paddy is said 
to be short. In PuttaUm a failure ol tire paddy 
and kurakkan crops was feared but they were 
saved by a heavy fall ol rain towards cod ol Jan. 
In Ohilaw the prospects arc fairly good. The 
reports from the Province of Uva vary a good deal, 
some diatriota suffering from drought, while others 
have had plenty of rain. In the Province of 
Sabaragamuwa the harvest seems to have been on 
the whole good. From the North-Central Province 
the report ia that Chena is sufficient for present 
needs, but that there is very little rice available at 
paddy is held up for seed lor Yala sowing if tho usual 
rain falls. 
♦ 
VADENTYN’.S HISTORY OF COFFEE. 
{Continued from page 874, Vol. X.) 
Paut III. 
M. Pasohiu.i who maintained that Coflea was known 
m the tune of King David— Parallel passages from 
Scripture iho Author’s own opin'on ub mt it — Du 
lours Hook ou Ootf-e— The Parisims believe Ooffee 
to bo a *P®c'6-i of .Mulberry— The o|)inioas pro and con 
or divers I lulosophers, Apo'hecarios and Physicians as 
to tho effects of O. ff,)e drlukli'g — -Nicholas de Hlegi*y *8 
rvalue on Coffee, Tea an.i Ghocolale wliicli app-ared 
’1‘ Mr. A' tbony Uallaiui’s H jok on Coffee — 
Abdulcidor Moliaincd and Abdul Oaffar the ea-liest 
writers on ti e subj'-cl— Quo Mohame! Ibu Siib of 
babiian in Arabia I’vlix goes over te I’ersia in llOd, 
.''nd finds .some of ids brethnn tliore in the Imbit of 
drinking Oeft-e: on his way iiac’s, feeling sick, ho 
thinks of it takes a good strong draught nud finds it 
very oflicaoious in raising bis drnoging .yjirits — How 
the people of Mecca prepaiMd Coltvo from tho husk, 
and how they played Clisss and Tjjuka and kept 
attentiou awako by takiii!} sundry sips of tho bovvrago 
— The use of Coffee prohibited in Egypt by the Saltan 
Kair Beg, and, in Mecca, by its Governor, who, despite 
the arguments of the learued, believed that Coffee like 
Wine was intoiicatiug- The Governor summons an 
assembly of Divines who state tlieir opinion — The 
matter is then referred to two eminent Persian Phy- 
sicians of Meona, brothers, who are both opposed to 
the use of Coffee — Oac Heujaazlali, however, oomes 
ont strong in favor of the beverage and is backed by a 
powerful majority; but the Persians insist that Ben- 
jaazlati knows nothing about it — All concur however 
that Coffee has tho effect of disordering the ” Organs 
of the lirain,'* the Mufti of Mecca alone disseutipg; and 
the use of Coffee is accordingly prohibited and put 
down by the strong Arm of the Law— Coffee Bibbers 
of Mecca persist nevertheless in sipping iha beverage 
by stealth, at tho risk of losing their necks, and of 
being paraded thro’ the Town on the hack of a Jack- 
-Iss— Tile Sultan of Egypt taki s nubrage at certain 
assinine proceedings of his Deputy at Mecca and 
orders him fotthioith to rescind tho obuoxions d'-cree — 
The Deputy obeys and rescinds it accordingly- The 
Persian brothers, thus discomfited, betake themselves to 
Cairo, whore they amu.so themsf-lvea by lampooning the 
Grand Bigoeur Selim, andlose tUiirncokaiu the bargain. 
“ A certain gentleman M. Pasebius by name maintains 
iu his Latin Work published at Leipsio in A. D, 1700, 
that the parched com spoken of in Ist S imiiol ixv. 
18. which Abigail, amougst her other gifts, presented 
to David to appease aud avert his wrath, was no other 
than Coffee beaus. 
Of such psrehed meal <4o. we read in God’s Holy 
Word more than once, as in Lev, vi. 2l.vii. 12. and 
let Cliron, xxiii. ‘29; but I oiiiuot admit however, that 
by that gift of Abigail wo can understand aiiytliiug 
else than what the word implies, to wit, parched corn 
more especially as I find in 2nd Simuel xvii. 23, the 
di-tinction clearly drawn ; for, amongst the presents 
of Berzillai and other trioiids of David, mention is 
mnile of roasted wheat, b irley, nud meal, nud of 
parohed beans and leutdes; aud honoo I opine that 
they were all parched or roasted, not excepting tho 
moil and the wheat, and the passage iu question 
bereforc cannot bo understood as haviug iice 0 
Coffee beans in particular. 
Hence it ia clear on the one hand with reference to 
these nice distinctions, that the parched corn aud 
pacclied beans in Atiigail's gifts, cannot bo understood 
to moa i Ooffeo beaus; but on the other hand liowovro 
it appears quite evident from tbs same passage 2ad 
Sam. xvii. ‘28. that tho ancients were wont to go iu 
quest of a certain species of beans auj lentilos (Iho 
same distinction being observed between l/eans and 
lentiles. Ever since I became acquainted with Coffee 
1 was ncliued to believe that the beaus referred to 
in this verse could be none other tliau Coffee beans, 
or at leat some sorst of beans used in a similar manner 
as the Ooffeo. I was not, however, lo 1 to this belief 
by the strong opinions expressed by M. I’asoliius or any 
other person ; but this idea ooourr d to me whilst I 
was occupied in translating the Bible into the Malay 
language about the year 1(190, and it was not till 
after n careful cousideration of tlie verso rofevred to 
that tho idta forced its df upou me, {o/igeborreld, liter- 
ally, bubbled up. I bare since adhered to this opinion 
There are others again who went still farther and 
insisted that th" red p.ittsge, wliiuli Essn longed for 
Gen. XXV. 30., was nothing mor.^ or loss tbaii liquid 
Coffee, though this does 11 t s.oru to me q lite as prob- 
able as the foregoing supp. s’Li 11 , 
But to return t > Du Four, who asserts that Coffee 
was not known iu F iinoe till ufti'r 11145, uud that 
when he wrote bis Bo k, only 25 years lin 1 elapsed 
since Coffee begiu to bo uu-d there; that even it’s 
proper name w.s not known tbqii, and that when it 
was first use 1 iu i’aris.itw.i8 believ-d tube a species 
of the mulborry. 
At a later perm 1 whou Coif e bioame more widely 
known, the Pli lusophers, .Vpithecaii-'s, and Pliy.siciims 
wore not unauimoiis iu their opinion respecting it’s 
quality or its effects. Some rojeotod it altogether us 
a Caput Mortuuin, and hence as prejudicial to hualtU. 
