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.
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