r it be _kahua_, _kahoueh_, _kaffa_ or _kahwa_, and
that the peoples who have adopted the drink have all modified the
Arabian word to suit their pronunciation. This is shown by giving the
word as written in various modern languages:

French, _cafe_; Breton, _kafe_; German, _kaffee_ (coffee tree,
_kaffeebaum_); Dutch, _koffie_ (coffee tree, _koffieboonen_); Danish,
_kaffe_; Finnish, _kahvi_; Hungarian, _kave_; Bohemian, _kava_; Polish,
_kawa_; Roumanian, _cafea_; Croatian, _kafa_; Servian, _kava_; Russian,
_kophe_; Swedish, _kaffe_; Spanish, _cafe_; Basque, _kaffia_; Italian,
_caffe_; Portuguese, _cafe_; Latin (scientific), _coffea_; Turkish,
_kahue_; Greek, _kafeo_; Arabic, _qahwah_ (coffee berry, _bun_);
Persian, _qehve_ (coffee berry, _bun_[5]); Annamite, _ca-phe_;
Cambodian, _kafe_; Dukni[6], _bunbund_[7]; Teluyan[8], _kapri-vittulu_;
Tamil[9], _kapi-kottai_ or _kopi_; Canareze[10], _kapi-bija_; Chinese,
_kia-fey_, _teoutse_; Japanese, _kehi_; Malayan, _kawa_, _koppi_;
Abyssinian, _bonn_[11]; Foulak, _legal cafe_[12]; Sousou, _houri
caff_[13]; Marquesan, _kapi_; Chinook[14], _kaufee_; Volapuk, _kaf_;
Esperanto, _kafva_.

[Illustration: THE FAIRY BEAUTY OF A COFFEE TREE IN FLOWER]

CHAPTER II

HISTORY OF COFFEE PROPAGATION

_A brief account of the cultivation of the coffee plant in the Old
World and its introduction into the New--A romantic coffee
adventure_

The history of the propagation of the coffee plant is closely interwoven
with that of the early history of coffee drinking, but for the purposes
of this chapter we shall consider only the story of the inception and
growth of the cultivation of the coffee tree, or shrub, bearing the
seeds, or berries, from which the drink, coffee, is made.

Careful research discloses that most authorities agree that the coffee
plant is indigenous to Abyssinia, and probably Arabia, whence its
cultivation spread throughout the tropics. The first reliable mention of
the properties and uses of the plant is by an Arabian physician toward
the close of the ninth century A.D., and it is reasonable to suppose
that before that time the plant was found growing wild in Abyssinia and
perhaps in Arabia. If it be true, as Ludolphus writes,[15] that the
Abyssinians came out of Arabia into Ethiopia in the early ages, it is
possible that they may have brought the coffee tree with them; but the
Arabians must still be given the credit for discovering and promoting
the