The beverage which we call coffee, is said to have been drank in Ethiopia from time immemorial. The Galla, a wandering nation of Africa, in their excursions on Abyssinia, being obliged to traverse immense deserts, and being also desirous of falling on the Abyssinians, without warning, that they may be incumbered as little as possible with baggage, carry nothing with them to eat, but coffee roasted, till it can be pulverised, and then mixed with butter into balls; one of these, about the size of a billiard ball, is said to keep them during a whole day’s fatigue.[39] [39] Bruce’s Abyss. II. 226. The liquor, called coffee, was introduced into Adea, in Arabia, from Persia, about the middle of the 15th century. Not long after it reached Mecca, Medina, &c. and Grand Cairo. Hence it continued its progress to Damascus and Aleppo, and in 1554 became known at Constantinople. It is not certain at what time the use of coffee passed from Constantinople to the Western part of Europe. Thevenot, a French traveller into the East, at his return in 1657, brought with him coffee to Paris. In the year 1671, a coffee-house was opened at Marseilles. Soon after coffee-rooms were opened at Paris. The first mention of coffee in our statute books was 1660. In the year 1688, Mr. Ray affirms, that London might rival Grand Cairo in the number of its coffee-houses.[40] [40] Miller’s Gardener’s Dictionary. NATURAL HISTORY OF THE COFFEE TREE. The tree which produces coffee contains ten species, chiefly natives of the East Indies, South America, and the Polynesian isles. The only species, however, that we have to notice in the present work is the coffee Arabica, of which there are two varieties, though both are sold in our shops as Turkey coffee, and possess similar qualities. The tree seldom rises more than 16 or 18 feet high, with an erect main stem, covered with a lightish brown bark: the leaves are oblong-ovate, and pointed; the flowers are set in clusters; they are of a pure white, and possess a very pleasant odour, but their duration is very transient. The fruit resembles a cherry, and grows in clusters, ranged along the branches under the axillæ of the leaves, which are of a laurel hue, but rather longer than a laurel leaf. It is an ever-green, and makes a beautiful appearance at every season in the year, but particularly when it is in flower.