Whence Kola comes - Early Mention of - Early Trade in - Cure for Drunkenness - The Cattia edulis - Substitutes for Tea.

Kola can scarcely be called a tea, because, as a drink, it is produced from a nut, instead of a leaf, but it is put here because it contains the alkaloid Theine. Its botanical name is Sterculia acuminata, and it is a native of tropical West Africa, although now introduced into the West Indies and Brazils, The earliest mention of it that I have found, is in "the Sieur Brlie's Journey from Albreda, on the river Gambia, to Kachao, by land, in the year 1700." Shortly after his start from Gambia, he was entertained by a Portuguese lady, and "after a short Compliment, one of her Slaves, a young, handsome Girl, but very immodestly dressed, presented the General a Pewter Basin full of Kola, a fruit much valued by the Portugueze. It is bitter, and makes the Teeth and Spittle yellow."

Barbotl gives a very bad illustration of the nut, and the following description. "The Cola is a sort of fruit, somewhat resembling a large chestnut. The tree is very tall and large, on which this fruit grows, in clusters, ten or twelve of them together; the outside of it is red, with some mixture of blue; and the inside, when cut, violet colour and brown. It comes once a year, is of a harsh, sharp taste, but quenches the thirst, and makes water relish so well, that most of the Blacks carry it about them, wheresoever they go, frequently chewing, and some eat it all day, but forbear at night, believing it hinders their sleeping. The whole country abounds in this Cola, which yields the natives considerable profit, selling it to their neighbours up in the inland; who, as some Blacks told me, sell it again to a sort of white men, who repair to them at a certain time of the year, and take off great quantities of it. These white men are suppos'd to be of Morocco or Barbary, for the English of Bence island assur'd me, there was a great quantity carry'd yearly by land to Tunis and Tripoli, in Barbary"

So we see that, although a fair trade was done in Kola over 150 years ago, it is only beginning to be known in Europe.

1 A Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea, etc., by John Barbot, etc. Now first printed from his original Ms., 1732.

In Congo it is called Makasso, and Guru in Soudan, and the seeds or nuts are used in West and Central Africa to make a refreshing beverage, which is somewhat allied to tea, and which has the same active principle as cocoa, without so much fatty matter. It is refreshing, invigorating, and has digestive properties. In the West Indies it is sometimes used by the negroes to counteract the effects of intoxication. It grows in pods, which contains several seeds, about the size of a horse chestnut. At present it is only used as a tonic. Kola is said to be a cure for drunkenness, and to sober an inebriate in an hour's time; but woe be to him if he returns to his evil courses for three or four days -his punishment will be equal to sea-sickness.

There is a new product, about which, at present, very little is known in Europe, This is the Cattia edulis, which is said to be similar in its properties to Mate, Cuca, and Kola, in maintaining animal strength for a time, in the absence of food. It has been used by the natives of Arabia and Abyssinia for centuries. The plant is a shrub with lanceolate leaves of an olive-green colour, and it flourishes in Africa between 15° N. and 300 S. latitude, but it is chiefly cultivated in Arabia, especially in the province of Yemen. From Aden it is exported to the north-east of Africa, and the coasts of Somali land. The leaves are either chewed or infused like tea, and their sustaining virtues have recently been tested by M. Leloups, a French therapeutist. He employed not only the infusion, but the tincture, and an extract of the leaves, finding them all to produce wakefulness and banish fatigue. No definite alkaloid has yet been obtained from the leaves.

In conclusion I may give the following list of substitutes for Chinese Tea and Mate.

A tea is also made of coffee leaves, and this infusion has been drunk for an unknown time in the Eastern Archipelago, especially in the island of Sumatra. It is said to be an agreeable beverage, and is preferred by the natives to the berry.