To The Arabian Traveller Nothing Can Be More Annoying Than These Somali
Camels.
They must be fed four hours during the day, otherwise they cannot
march.
They die from change of food or sudden removal to another country.
Their backs are ever being galled, and, with all precautions, a month's
march lays them up for three times that period. They are never used for
riding, except in cases of sickness or accidents.
The Somali ass is generally speaking a miserable animal. Lieut. Speke,
however, reports that on the windward coast it is not to be despised. At
Harar I found a tolerable breed, superior in appearance but inferior in
size to the thoroughbred little animals at Aden. They are never ridden;
their principal duty is that of carrying water-skins to and from the
walls.
[16] He is generally called Abu Zerbin, more rarely Abu Zarbayn, and Abu
Zarbay. I have preferred the latter orthography upon the authority of the
Shaykh Jami, most learned of the Somal.
[17] In the same year (A.D. 1429-30) the Shaykh el Shazili, buried under a
dome at Mocha, introduced coffee into Arabia.
[18] The following is an extract from the Pharmaceutical Journal, vol.
xii. No. v. Nov. 1. 1852. Notes upon the drugs observed at Aden Arabia, by
James Vaughan, Esq., M.R.C.S.E., Assist. Surg., B.A., Civil and Port.
Surg., Aden, Arabia.
"Kat [Arabic], the name of a drug which is brought into Aden from the
interior, and largely used, especially by the Arabs, as a 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 drug 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.
Forskal found the plant growing on the mountains of Yemen, 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 Kat carried in
the bosom is a certain safeguard against infection. The learned botanist
observes, with respect to these supposed virtues, 'Gustus foliorum tamen
virtutem tantam indicare non videtur.' Like coffee, Kat, from its
acknowledged stimulating effects, has been a fertile theme for the
exercise of Mahomedan casuistry, and names of renown are ranged on both
sides of the question, whether the use of Kat 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 All Shadeli ibn Omar, one of the disciples of the learned doctor
Nasr ood Deen, who is regarded as one of the chiefs among the order
Shadeli, and whose worth attests the high degree of spirituality to which
they had attained. Previous to that time they made coffee of the vegetable
substance called Cafta, which is the same as the leaf known under the name
of Kat, and not of Boon (the coffee berry) nor any preparation of Boon.
The use of this beverage extended in course of time as far as Aden, but in
the days of Mahomed Dhabhani the vegetable substance from which it was
prepared disappeared from Aden. Then it was that the Sheik advised those
who had become his disciples to try the drink made from the Boon, which
was found to produce the same effect as the Kat, inducing sleeplessness,
and that it was attended with less expense and trouble. The use of coffee
has been kept up from that time to the present.'
"D'Herbelot states that the beverage called Calmat al Catiat or Caftah,
was prohibited in Yemen in consequence of its effects upon the brain. On
the other hand a synod of learned Mussulmans is said to have decreed that
as beverages of Kat and Cafta do not impair the health or impede the
observance of religious duties, but only increase hilarity and good-
humour, it was lawful to use them, as also the drink made from the boon or
coffee-berry. I am not aware that Kat is used in Aden in any other way
than for mastication. From what I have heard, however, I believe that a
decoction resembling tea is made from the leaf by the Arabs in the
interior; and one who is well acquainted with our familiar beverage
assures me that the effects are not unlike those produced by strong green
tea, with this advantage in favour of Kat, that the excitement is always
of a pleasing and agreeable kind. [Note: "Mr. Vaughan has transmitted two
specimens called Tubbare Kat and Muktaree Kat, from the districts in which
they are produced:
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