he tree presented to Louis XIV; but the honor of
eventual success was won by a young Norman gentleman, Gabriel Mathieu de
Clieu, a naval officer, serving at the time as captain of infantry at
Martinique. The story of de Clieu's achievement is the most romantic
chapter in the history of the propagation of the coffee plant.

His personal affairs calling him to France, de Clieu conceived the idea
of utilizing the return voyage to introduce coffee cultivation into
Martinique. His first difficulty lay in obtaining several of the plants
then being cultivated in Paris, a difficulty at last overcome through
the instrumentality of M. de Chirac, royal physician, or, according to a
letter written by de Clieu himself, through the kindly offices of a lady
of quality to whom de Chirac could give no refusal. The plants selected
were kept at Rochefort by M. Begon, commissary of the department, until
the departure of de Clieu for Martinique. Concerning the exact date of
de Clieu's arrival at Martinique with the coffee plant, or plants, there
is much conflict of opinion. Some authorities give the date as 1720,
others 1723. Jardin[16] suggests that the discrepancy in dates may arise
from de Clieu, with praiseworthy perseverance, having made the voyage
twice. The first time, according to Jardin, the plants perished; but the
second time de Clieu had planted the seeds when leaving France and these
survived, "due, they say, to his having given of his scanty ration of
water to moisten them." No reference to a preceding voyage, however, is
made by de Clieu in his own account, given in a letter written to the
_Annee Litteraire_[17] in 1774. There is also a difference of opinion as
to whether de Clieu arrived with one or three plants. He himself says
"one" in the letter referred to.

According to the most trustworthy data, de Clieu embarked at Nantes,
1723.[18] He had installed his precious plant in a box covered with a
glass frame in order to absorb the rays of the sun and thus better to
retain the stored-up heat for cloudy days. Among the passengers one man,
envious of the young officer, did all in his power to wrest from him the
glory of success. Fortunately his dastardly attempt failed of its
intended effect.

"It is useless," writes de Clieu in his letter to the _Annee
Litteraire_, "to recount in detail the infinite care that I was obliged
to bestow upon this delicate plant during a long voyage, and the
difficulties I had in saving it from