Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/149

* ccEtm. 117 COFFEE. distinction and granted him a special license to trallic with the intidels. The power and fame of C(Bur were now at their highest. He had represented France in three euihassies, and had furnished much of the money for the war which luul driven the Enjjlish from Xorniiuuly. He was invested with various olliccs of dignity, and pos- sessed the largest fortune that had e-er been amassed by a jirivate French citizen. The sea was covered with his sliips and he carried on trade with England, Flanders, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Asia, and Africa. His fall, however, was sudden. In February, 1450, Agnes Sorel, the King's mistress, died; and C'oeur, who was one of her executors, was accused of having poisoned her. There was no reasonable ground for such a charge; nevertheless the needy and imscrupulons King, in July, 1451, ordered his arrest and the seizure of his goods, reserving for himself a large sum to carry on the war in Guienne. Coeur was tried and convicted by men wliose business it was to convict him without regard to the evidence or to justice, and he was condemned to pay to the King an enormous sum and to remain a prisoner initil the judgment was fully satisfied. All his property was confiscated, and he was subject to exile during the royal pleasure. In 1454 he managed to escape, and, though pursued, succeeded in reaching Rome, where he was well received by the Pope, He died at Chios, Consult Clement, J. Creur et ChiiHrs VII. (Paris, 1886), C(EUR D'AL^NE, ker da-len' (Fr., awl- heart; the French translation of the Indian tri- bal name Skitswish). A lake in Kootenai Coun- ty, Idaho (Jlap: Idaho, A 2). It lies in a wild regio7i surrounded by the mountains of the same name. It is about 30 miles long and from two to four miles wide. Its waters are cool and clear and afford excellent fishing. It receives the Saint Joseph River from the east at its southern end. and has for its outlet the Spokane River, which flows west from ils northern end. C(EUB D'ALENE. A Salishan tribe formerly holding the territory aljout the lake and river of the same name in northern Idaho, and now settled upon a reservation in the same coun- try. The name, signifying 'awl-heart.' is said to have been originally given to a chief of the tribe in derision of his stinginess. The natives call themselves Skitswish, the Skeetsomish of Lewis and Clark. They now number 450. CCETJR DE LION, de If'ox' (Fr.. Lion- hearted). A title given to Richard I.. King of Ingland. for his exploits, mainly in the Crusades. COFFEE (Turk., Ar. qahice. the coffee bev- erage). A beverage made of the roasted seeds of the coft'ee-tree. Coffea Arahicri. a native of Abyssinia and Arabia, now naturalized in many tropical countries. The genus Coft'ea comprises a number of species, but the Coft"ea Arabica is the species w'idest known which possesses valu- able properties : the seeds of Coffea ^lauritiana, jirepared in the same way. are bitter and slightly emetic. In the wild state Coffea Araliica is a slender tree 15 to 25 feet high, with few bra nehes : in cultivation it is seldom allowed to become more than 6 to 10 feet high, and is made to assume a sort of pyramidal form, with horizontal branches almost from the ground. The leaves are evergreen and leathery; the flower* are small, fragrant, and snow-white; and the whole appear- ance of the tree is very pleasing. The fruit, wlien ripe, is of a dark-scarlet color, and the seeds are horn-like and hard. The seeds are commonly termed colVee-heans. a name derived not from any resend)laiice of the seeds to beans, but from the Aiabic word hiinn, whidi means 'cotTee.' The seeds are also sometimes, but very incorrectly, designated coffee-berries. For illus- tration, .see Beverage Plant.s. The earlier history of the coffee-tree is not very clear. It was not known to the (i reeks or Romans, but in Arabia it was certainly in use in the fifteenth century. Toward tiie end of the .seventeenth century, plant-s were carried from Mocha to Batavia by Wieser, a burgomaster of Amsterdam, and from the botanical gardens at Amsterdam the Paris Garden obtained a tree. A layer of this was carried out to Jlartinique in 1720, where it succeeded so well that in a few years all the West Indies could be supplied with young trees. The following sorts are particu- larly distinguished from one another in com- merce: Mocha coffee, which cones from Arabia, and is known by its small gray beans inclining to greenish; Jaia or East Indian coffee, which has large yellow beans; Jamaica coffee, with beans somewhat smaller and greenish : ^ufinam coffee, which has the largest beans ; Bourbon coffee, with beans pale yellow and almost whit- ish. The coffee-tree succeeds where the tempera- ture of the year ranges from 60' to i)0° F. It does l)est in a sandy or gravelly soil, well drained, and on high lands or hill ranges from 1000 to 3000 feet above the sea. In Peru and Ecuador it is acclimatized at an elevation of 6000 feet, where, however, frost never occurs. The fruit ripens in hot-houses. Coft'ee planta- tions are laid out pretty much in the same way everywhere. One-year-old trees 12 to 10 inclies high are set from the nursery. They need shade at first and in a hot dry climate should be shaded at all times. 'The.y are pruned to the same height, and the ground between them is carefully kept clear of weeds. Where the cli- mate is dry, abundant irrigation is necessary, but the supply of water is cut off as the fruit begins to ripen, in order to improve its quality. The tree yields its first crop in the third year, and the crop from a full-grown tree may amount to two pounds of coffee-beans. The life of a tree is about forty years. As the coftee-tree continues flowering for eight months, its fruits are of very unequal ripeness; in the West In- dies and Brazil three gatherings are made an- nually. The beans are placed on mats or large floors specially adapted for the purpose, where they are dried by the sun's rays, being mean- while frequently turned. They are passed be- tween rollers to remove the dried pulp of the bean, and the membrane which incloses the seeds themselves, and the coft'ee is afterwards freed from impurities liy winnowing, and conveyed in bags to the seaports. As equal care is not, how- ever, bestowed upon the preparation of it in all places where it is cultivated, there are great dif- ferences in qiiality and price. The use of coffee as a beverage was introduced from Arabia, in the sixteenth century, into Egypt and Constant! nople. Leonhard Rauwolf. a German physician, was probably the first to make coffee known in Europe, by the accoimt of his travels printed in 1573. Soon after the first introduction of