lm of each
hand upon the top and bottom and carries it off without contact. The
beverage is made of the berries of Mocha, slightly roasted, pulverized in
a mortar, and heated to a foam, without the addition of cream or sugar.
Sometimes, however, it is flavored with the extract of roses or violets.
When skilfully made, each cup is prepared separately, and the quantity of
water and coffee carefully measured.

Coffee is a true child of the East, and its original home was among the
hills of Yemen, the Arabia Felix of the ancients. Fortunately for
Mussulmen, its use was unknown in the days of Mahomet, or it would
probably have fallen under the same prohibition as wine. The word _Kahweh_
(whence _cafe_) is an old Arabic term for wine. The discovery of the
properties of coffee is attributed to a dervish, who, for some
misdemeanor, was carried into the mountains of Yemen by his brethren and
there left to perish by starvation. In order to appease the pangs of
hunger he gathered the ripe berries from the wild coffee-trees, roasted
and ate them. The nourishment they contained, with water from the springs,
sustained his life, and after two or three months he returned in good
condition to his brethren, who considered his preservation as a miracle,
and ever afterwards looked upon him as a pattern of holiness. He taught
the use of the miraculous fruit, and the demand for it soon became so
great as to render the cultivation of the tree necessary. It was a long
time, however, before coffee was introduced into Europe. As late as the
beginning of the seventeenth century, Sandys, the quaint old traveller,
describes the appearance and taste of the beverage, which he calls
"Coffa," and sagely asks: "Why not that black broth which the
Lacedemonians used?"

On account of the excellence of the material, and the skilful manner of
its preparation, the Coffee of the East is the finest in the world. I have
found it so grateful and refreshing a drink, that I can readily pardon the
pleasant exaggeration of the Arabic poet, Abd-el Kader Anazari Djezeri
Hanbali, the son of Mahomet, who thus celebrates its virtues. After such
an exalted eulogy, my own praises would sound dull and tame; and I
therefore resume my pipe, commending Abd-el Kader to the reader.

"O Coffee! thou dispellest the cares of the great; thou bringest back
those who wander from the paths of knowledge. Coffee is the beverage of
the people of God, and the cordial of his servants who t