IT has been remark’d by several eminent Men, That in the Countries of the East, where this Liquor is drank plentifully, the Inhabitants of those Parts are seldom or never troubled with the Stone, Gout, or Dropsy; which Distempers they imagine to be subdu’d by the powerful Virtue of this Decoction: but whether this Drink be proper for such as are afflicted with the Stone, I shall leave to the Judgment of the Learned, after they have read the following Relation, which I had from a Gentleman of Leyden, and what I believe may be depended upon: A Person of that University prepared two Gallons of Coffee-Drink, after the rate of eight Ounces of Powder to a Gallon of Water, and drew a Spirit from it, and again distilled from that Spirit another, which he set by in his Study, till he could find some Opportunity to try its Effects. About eight Months pass’d before he had any Occasion to make use of it, when, to his great Surprize, he found at the bottom of the Bottle a Crustaceous or Petrified Matter, so very hard, and so strongly cemented together, that, notwithstanding his great Skill in Chymistry, he was not able to dissolve it. And this Case (I think) may well admit of farther Enquiry, and more especially if we consider the Volatile Spirits contain’d in Coffee to be one fourth part of the Weight of it, which appears by so much Loss in the common Way of roasting the Berries.
I SHALL now proceed to give an Account of the Country it comes from, with some Observations relating to the Mercantine Part.
THAT curious Gentleman, Robert Balle Esq; furnish’d me with the following Relation, as he had it from a Person that had been upon the Place, and seen it grow: Coffee, says he, is not known to grow naturally in any Part of the World, but only in Arabia Felix, some few Days Journey Inland from Moco, in the Valleys of the Great Mountains, and near the City Saana, about twenty Degrees North-Latitude: The Prince of which, about eighty Years since, beat the Turks in a Battel near that Place, freed himself from their Yoke under which he was before, and made himself Independent as at this Day, permitting great Freedom of Trade to all Nations.
I SHALL here take occasion to remark, wherein lies the Difference between what we call Turkey and India Coffee, and why the latter has not been esteemed so good as that we receive from Turkey.
THE first of these is bought by the Turks Merchants, who go up into the Country where it grows, and there contract for the Fruit of Gardens, or so many Trees as they have occasion for, (as our Fruit-mongers do for Cherries in Kent.) When it is gathered and prepared, as I have already mentioned, they bring it upon Camels down to Juda, a Port at the bottom of the Red-Sea (which is the Port to Grand Cairo) to be transported to Suez; from thence by Land, about seventy Miles, to Grand Cairo, and so down the Nile to Alexandria, where it is ship’d off for Asia or Europe.
THERE commonly comes thus every Year to Egypt, from sixty to seventy thousand Bales of Coffee; which may contain, one with the other, about three hundred weight each.
THE Bashaw of Cairo sets a Price upon it, according to its Abundance or Scarcity, and the People there make use of it as Money in the Market, counting so many Berries to an [B]Asper, in proportion to the Value or Price settled by the Bashaw.
BUT that Sort, which we have under the Character of India Coffee, is bought at Bettelfukere, where the English, Dutch, and French, of late Years, send up Factors to buy the said Commodity, and bring it on Camels to Moco, from whence it is shipped for Europe. By which means (although it is obliged to pass the Line twice) what we now have that way is little inferiour to Turkey; which was formerly the Refuse, or what the Turks left at Bettlefukere.
THE immense Quantity of this Fruit, which is yearly exported from this one Country to other Parts of the World, is almost incredible; which, as we are informed, is computed to be about a Million of Bushels, one Year with another: and although it may seem unreasonable to believe, that this Country alone should produce it in so great abundance, (considering how small a Quantity can be gathered from each single Tree) yet with as much Surprize we may admire how it is possible, that even the Number of Bushels I have mentioned should be sufficient to answer the vast Demand for it; since it is certain, that besides the general Esteem it has gained all over Europe, it is not less requested throughout Africa and Asia, to their utmost Bounds.
HENCE we may reasonably conjecture what vast Riches must be amass’d by these Arabs, seeing they are the Proprietors of this Commodity, and thereby command so great a Part of the Wealth of the most opulent Countries. This part of Arabia Felix is truly (as Mr. Ray observes) φερώυμος, and merits the most happy Name for its Fertility in rich Produce. I admire, continues that Author, how so great a Treasure has remained so long peculiar to one Country, and that neither the Envy nor Avarice of its Neighbours have tempted them to share in this great Advantage! But so prudent are its Masters, that on no account will they suffer either Plant or Seed of it to come alive out of their Dominions; taking great care to destroy the germinative Faculty of those Berries they send abroad, and inflicting the most severe Punishments on such as shall attempt the Transportation of any Plants of it.