Page:First Footsteps in East Africa, 1894 - Volume 1.djvu/101

Rh Tired of the town, I persuaded the Hajj to send me with an escort to the Hissi or well. At daybreak I set out with four Arab matchlock men, and taking a direction nearly due west, waded and walked over an alluvial plain flooded by every high tide. On our way we passed lines pleasurable excitant. It is generally imported in small camel-loads, consisting of a number of parcels, each containing about forty slender twigs with the leaves attached, and carefully wrapped so as to prevent as much as possible exposure to the atmosphere. The leaves form the edible part, and these, when chewed, are said to produce great hilarity of spirits and an agreeable state of wakefulness. Some estimate may be formed of the strong predilection which the Arabs have for this from the quantity used in Aden alone, which averages about 280 camel-loads annually. The market price is one and a quarter rupees per parcel, and the exclusive privilege of selling it is farmed by the government for 1500 rupees per year. Forskäl found the plant growing on the mountain of Al-Yaman, and has enumerated it as a new genus in the class Pentandria, under the name of Catha. He notices two species, and distinguishes them as Catha edulis and Catha spinosa. According to his account it is cultivated on the same ground as coffee, and is planted from cuttings. Besides the effects above stated, the Arabs, he tells us, believe the land where it grows to be secure from the inroads of plague; and that a twig of the Kât carried in the bosom is a certain safeguard against infection. The learned botanist observes, with respect to these supposed virtues, 'Gustus foliorum tamen virtutum tantam indicare non videtur.' Like coffee, Kât, from its acknowledged stimulating effects, has been a fertile theme for the exercise of Mohamedan casuistry, and names of renown are ranged on both sides of the question, whether the use of Kât does or does not contravene the injunction of the Koran, Thou shalt not drink wine or anything intoxicating. The succeeding notes borrowed chiefly from De Sacy's researches, may be deemed worthy of insertion here."Sheikh Abdool Kader Ansari Jezeri, a learned Mahomedan author, in his treatise on the use of coffee, quotes the following from the writings of Fakr ood Deen Mekki:—'It is said that the first who introduced coffee was the illustrious saint Aboo Abdallah Mahomed Dhabhani ibn Said; but we have learned by the testimony of many persons that the use of coffee in Yemen, its origin, and first introduction into that country are due to the learned Ali Shadeli ibn Omar, one