[Illustration: MOCHA.]
"_Bon pour la digestion_," said the young Princess Esterhazy, when sent to
bed by her governess without her dinner; we say the same of _coffee_; and
hope the reader will think the same of Mocha, or the place whence the
finest quality is exported.
Mocha, the coffee-drinker need not be told, is a place of some importance
on the borders of the Red Sea, in that part of Arabia termed "Felix," or
"Happy." "The town looks white and cheerful, the houses lofty, and have a
square, solid appearance; the roadstead is almost open, being only
protected by two narrow spits of sand--on one of which is a round castle,
and the other an insignificant fort."
Lord Valentia[1] visited Mocha repeatedly during his examination of the
shores of the Red Sea; and his description is the most full and minute:--
[1] From whose work the Engraving is copied.
"Its appearance from the sea is, he says, tolerably handsome, as all the
buildings are white-washed, and the minarets of the three mosques rise to
a considerable height. The uniform line of the flat-roofed houses is also
broken by several circular domes of _kobbas_, or chapels. On landing at a
pier, which has been constructed for the convenience of trade, the effect
is improved by the battlements of the walls, and a lofty tower on which
cannon are mounted, which advances before the town, and is meant to
protect the sea gate. The moment, however, that the traveller passes the
gates, these pleasing ideas are put to flight by the filth that abounds in
every street, and more particularly in the open spaces which are left
within the walls, by the gradual decay of the deserted habitations which
once filled them. The principal building in the town is the residence of
the dola, which is large and lofty, having one front to the sea, and
another to a square. Another side of the square, which is the only regular
place in the town, is filled up by the official residence of the _bas
kateb_, or secretary of state, and an extensive serai, built by the
Turkish pacha during the time that Mocha was tributary to the Grand
Seignior. These buildings externally have no pretensions to architectural
elegance, yet are by no means ugly objects, from their turretted tops, and
fantastic ornaments in white stucco. The windows are in general small,
stuck into the wall in an irregular manner, closed with lattices, and
sometimes opening into a wooden, carved-work balcony. In the upper
apartments, there is generally a range of circular windows above the
others, filled with thin strata of a transparent stone, which is found in
veins in a mountain near Sanaa. None of these can be opened, and only a
few of the lower ones, in consequence of which, a thorough air is rare in
their houses; yet the people of rank do not seem oppressed by the heat,
which is frequently almost insupportable to a European.
"The best houses are all facing the sea, and chiefly to the north of the
sea gate. The British factory is a large and lofty building, but has most
of the inconveniences of an Arab house.
"The town of Mocha is surrounded by a wall, which towards the sea is not
above sixteen feet high, though on the land side it may, in some places,
be thirty. In every part it is too thin to resist a cannon-ball, and the
batteries along shore are unable to bear the shock of firing the cannon
that are upon them.
"The climate of Mocha is extremely sultry,[2] owing to its vicinity to the
arid sands of Africa, over which the S.E. wind blows for so long a
continuance, as not to be cooled in its short passage over the sea below
the Straits Babel Mandel.
[2] From 90 to 95 deg. Fahr in July.
"Mocha, according to some learned natives, was not in existence four
hundred years ago; from which period we know nothing of it, till the
discoveries and conquests of the Portuguese in India opened the Red Sea to
the natives of Europe."
Mrs. Lushington, in her interesting _Journey from Calcutta to Europe_,
says, "the coffee-bean is cultivated in the interior, and is thence
brought to Mocha for exportation. The Arabs themselves use the husks,
which make but an inferior infusion. Every lady who pays a visit, carries
a small bag of coffee with her, which enables her 'to enjoy society
without putting her friends to expense.'"
Mocha coffee is in smaller berries than other kinds, and its flavour is
extremely fine. Hundreds of pages have been written on the origin and
introduction of coffee as a beverage. In the _Coffee-drinker's Manual_,
translated from the French, we find it dated at the middle of the
seventeenth century, and in that quarter of Arabia wherein Mocha is
situated.
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