sported from Mocha to Holland. In 1658 the Dutch
started the cultivation of coffee in Ceylon, although the Arabs are said
to have brought the plant to the island prior to 1505. In 1670 an
attempt was made to cultivate coffee on European soil at Dijon, France,
but the result was a failure.

In 1696, at the instigation of Nicolaas Witsen, then burgomaster of
Amsterdam, Adrian Van Ommen, commander at Malabar, India, caused to be
shipped from Kananur, Malabar, to Java, the first coffee plants
introduced into that island. They were grown from seed of the _Coffea
arabica_ brought to Malabar from Arabia. They were planted by
Governor-General Willem Van Outshoorn on the Kedawoeng estate near
Batavia, but were subsequently lost by earthquake and flood. In 1699
Henricus Zwaardecroon imported some slips, or cuttings, of coffee trees
from Malabar into Java. These were more successful, and became the
progenitors of all the coffees of the Dutch East Indies. The Dutch were
then taking the lead in the propagation of the coffee plant.

In 1706 the first samples of Java coffee, and a coffee plant grown in
Java, were received at the Amsterdam botanical gardens. Many plants were
afterward propagated from the seeds produced in the Amsterdam gardens,
and these were distributed to some of the best known botanical gardens
and private conservatories in Europe.

While the Dutch were extending the cultivation of the plant to Sumatra,
the Celebes, Timor, Bali, and other islands of the Netherlands Indies,
the French were seeking to introduce coffee cultivation into their
colonies. Several attempts were made to transfer young plants from the
Amsterdam botanical gardens to the botanical gardens at Paris; but all
were failures.

In 1714, however, as a result of negotiations entered into between the
French government and the municipality of Amsterdam, a young and
vigorous plant about five feet tall was sent to Louis XIV at the chateau
of Marly by the burgomaster of Amsterdam. The day following, it was
transferred to the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, where it was received
with appropriate ceremonies by Antoine de Jussieu, professor of botany
in charge. This tree was destined to be the progenitor of most of the
coffees of the French colonies, as well as of those of South America,
Central America, and Mexico.

_The Romance of Captain Gabriel de Clieu_

Two unsuccessful attempts were made to transport to the Antilles plants
grown from the seed of t