The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-04-20
OF A COFFEE REVERE.
IT INCLUDES A DISSERTATION ON
THE FRAGRANT BERRY.
How Civilization Came to be blessed
with the Soothing Liquid-Man
and monk"

The other morning down at
Long Branch, after we had bath
ed in the pellucid waters of the
murmuring Pacific, chatted with
host Sherwoods monkeys and not
ed how like the watchful eye of the
genial promoter when he seeks to
sell what he has not got to the fell
low who does not want it the eye
of greedy "Jocko" is, the Professor,
the Captain and myself adjourned
to the makai lanai of Sherwood's
caravansary and slipped Kona cof-
fee while we gazed away over the
mighty sea into the realms of
silence, Each one was busy with
the mere animal enjoyment of the
hour-and so were the monkeys
mauka.
HUM said the Professor after
long pause during which he seem
ed to be most keen in the content
ment OF his silent pleasure, what
long stretch of time lies between
the man of today and his progenitor,
the monkey. What a progression
man is from the indefinite, inco-
herent homogeneity Of the monk
ey to the definite, coherent hetero-
geneity Of the man-from tie
simple ways of the monk" to the
diverse and manifold tastes and
functions of the man, what a cycle
of space-from the believer in bio
logical evolutionism to-well, the
beast which has not learned the
uses and benefits of coffee, how in
finite the journey. l wonder at
what particular stage Of his honol-
ogy the man-monkey acquired a
taste for this drink which comfort
eth and helpeth digestion. as that
Prince of Bon V0antS aid King of
philosophers, Lord Bacon, said
II should not wonder if the small
evergreen tree and the lesser man
were coeval."
well, Professor" replied the
Captain, eff you have finished
your monologue, would arise to a
point of information. If the mon
key is the father of the man,
which proposition am neither pre-
pared to admit nor deny, l am
quite certain that he is much
older than coffee, as the first notice
we have of it is contained in an
Arabian MSS. which was found in
the Royal Library at Paris, before
the revolution. 1t was written by
Schehabeddin Ben, as late as the
fifteenth century. The writer states
that Gemaleddin, Mutt of Alden, a
city of Arabia Felix, who lived not
long before his own time, learned
the use of coffee from some of his
countrymen, while travelling in
Persia; and having found much
benefit from it, on his return home,
he recommended it to the Dervishes
as certain means of preventing
drowsiness, and keeping them
awake during their nightly re-
ligious exercises.
Though the plant is native Of
Arabia, its properties were not
; known there before the time Of
: Gemaleddin; but his patronage
rapidly extended the use of the
enticing beverage derived from it.
From Alden il passed to Mecca,
thence to Medina and SO onward tc
i Grand Cairo. 1t was not long ap
propriated to religious purposes
l only, but it became the favorite
drink of the idle and luxurious, a:
we'll as the devout and studious
Two persons, one Schems, from
Damascus, and one Hekin from
Aleppo, each opened coffee house
q in Constantinople, and sold the
liquor in rooms, which were
rendered otherwise attractive
f by Accommodations for chess
0 games of chance and various
a similar amusements, a la jim de siefl
$ sample rooms.
S In the same proportion tina
coffee houses were thronged thu
mosques became deserted, and tn,
u priests represented that no doub
: the new drink was forbidden b,
0 the Koran, for that the roasted
r berry was certainly kind of coal
s and that all Goals were food pro
!. hibited by the prophets law. Tn
Mufti, on petition to this effect
without hesitation, decided tina
n coffee was COAL nevertheless, il
: spite Of frequent enactments agains
). it, the people continued to drink il
4 The exertions of the police wer
;, Intellectual, and the Government a
. length was content to restrain
II only by rigid sumptuary laws
e Coffee was taxed, and it was a.
! lowed to be drunk in secret.
= but another Mufti arose of
less antiphlogistic turn and h
IN pronounced that coffee was nc
e coal. All ranks, even the religion
a, themselves, assumed the diffnm a
I'd a license to drink coffee, and tn
ID Grand Vizier profted by the fash
OH toraise a considerable tax.
Mr.. Daniel Edwards, a Turks
90 al 40 ,