362  Coffee:  Its  History  and  Commerce.  {A^u|£sr^I^)?m■ 
Frequently  but  one  seed  develops  in  a  fruit  and  it  is  then  nearly 
oval.  Coffee  of  this  kind  is  known  in  commerce  as  pearl,  pea-berry 
or  male-berry.  The  seeds  of  Arabian  coffee  are  greenish,  brownish, 
yellowish  or  whitish.  The  seeds  of  Liberian  coffee  are  much  larger 
than  those  of  the  Arabian,  are  generally  brownish,  and  have  the 
groove  deeply  wrinkled  along  its  edges. 
Each  seed  is  enveloped  in  a  thin  transparent  tissue,  called  the 
silver  skin.  Outside  of  this  is  a  thick,  tough,  parchment-like  envel- 
ope called  the  parchment  skin  or  husk.  Enclosing  both  seeds  is 
the  pulp,  which  is  moderately  soft  when  fresh,  but  becomes  hard  and 
woody  .when  dry  and  is  then  called  the  hull  (and  frequently  also,  by 
coffee  dealers,  the  "  pod").  The  outer  surface  of  the  fruit  is  a  skin 
which  resembles  the  skin  of  a  cherry. 
The  fruit  is  commonly  called  the  berry,  not  because  it  is  a  true 
berry,  but  because  it  resembles  one.  The  seed  also  is  called  the  berry, 
as  for  example  "  flat-berry,"  "  male-berry,"  "  pea-berry,"  etc.  The 
seed  is  called  also  the  bean,  possibly  because  it  resembles  a  bean,  and 
possibly  from  the  Arabic  word  bunn,  the  name  of  the  coffee  tree  in 
Arabia.  The  dried  hull  is  called  the  pod,  but  there  is  nothing  legu- 
minous about  it.  The  names  cited  for  the  various  parts  are  bad 
botany,  but  good  technical  English  for  the  coffee  trade  and  good 
vernacular  for  all  of  us. 
III.  GEOGRAPHY. 
(1)  Origin. — Nearly  all  the  evidence  points  to  Abyssinia  as  the 
original  habitat  of  Arabian  coffee.  "  Coffea  Arabica  is  wild  in  Abys- 
sinia, in  the  Soudan,  and  on  the  coasts  of  Guinea  and  Mozambique, 
Perhaps  in  these  latter  localities,  so  far  removed  from  the  centre,  it 
may  be  naturalized  from  cultivation.  No  one  has  yet  found  it  in 
Arabia,  but  this  may  be  explained  by  the  difficulty  of  penetrating 
into  the  interior  of  the  country.  If  it  is  discovered  there,  it  will  be 
hard  to  prove  it  wild,  for  the  seeds,  which  soon  lose  their  faculty  of 
germinating,  often  spring  up  round  the  plantations  and  naturalize 
the  species.  This  has  occurred  in  Brazil  and  the  West  Indian 
Islands,  where  it  is  certain  that  the  coffee  plant  was  never  indige- 
nous."— De  Candolle,  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants."  The  botanic 
name,  Arabica,  and  its  English  equivalent,  Arabian,  applied  to  this 
coffee  are  most  probably  misnomers,  due  to  the  fact  that  Arabia 
took  a  prominent  part  in  introducing  the  use  and  cultivation  of 
