several trees over there, and it seems to me that it is a
good place to put up for the night, and we can gather a quantity of
them."

Several trees were in sight, about 18 feet high, beautiful branching
specimens, and beneath one of them the camp was made for the night.

While they were seated the Professor noticed the branch which George had
brought. It was a stem about two feet long, with a lot of leaves on each
side, and at the juncture of the leaves with the stem were rows of what
appeared to be nuts. These were in the form of clusters.

He picked it up. "I thought I had made a good find in the guava, but
this is still better."

"The nuts around the stem are what attracted me, and my curiosity was
aroused."

"You took this from the coffee tree."

[Illustration: _Fig. 27. Coffee._]

"Is it the real coffee?"

"It is the genuine article. I have searched for it from time to time.
Let us go over and see the tree. We must cultivate its acquaintance."

They responded with alacrity. They were now going to have coffee. The
tree was fully twenty feet high, and the branches extended out
horizontally from all sides.

"Earlier in the season these nuts, as George called them, looked like
cherries."

"But where is the coffee?"

"Inside the berry. Each berry contains two seeds. You know how the
coffee berry looks. Let us open one of them. See, it is smaller than the
ordinary berries, as you know them, but the kind we know are cultivated,
which makes them larger, and fuller in appearance. These will make fine
coffee, however, and I think we shall have to divide our load with the
guavas."

"Where did coffee originally come from? Is it found in many places
throughout the world?"

"The plant is supposed to be a native of Arabia in Asia, and of
Abyssinia, in Africa. From Arabia it was carried to most of the tropical
countries, but many varieties have been found in the western hemisphere.
Even in Canada certain kinds of coffee plants are known. It is not,
therefore, a wholly tropical plant. The Abyssinian coffee has been known
from the earliest times."

"What is regarded as the best kind of coffee?"

"The best coffee of commerce is the Mocha, and next comes Java, and the
principal coffee center of the world is Brazil."

On the morning of the eighth day they were awake early, and the boys
began work on the berries. Angel took a hand in the proceedings, and as
soon as he discovered what the boys were after he volunte