112 ARABIAN COFFEE. 



Mocha coffee obtains its finest, richest and most valuable 

 developments, and to which its superior excellence is 

 attributed. 



The gardens are arranged on rocky terraces, situated 

 one above the other, the slopes being densely covered 

 and close together and are watered from large reservoirs 

 built upon the heights above them, into which spring 

 water is collected and sprinkled in a novel and ingenious 

 manner, being first conducted to the top terrace and then 

 allowed to fall gradually from one terrace to another, 

 where the plant and shade grow so thick together that 

 the sun's rays can hardly penetrate among the branches. 

 The plants yield ripe fruit twice a year and frequently a 

 third crop is gathered, the produce of the latter is, how- 

 ever, greatly inferior to that of the previous ones. The 

 cultivation and preparation of coffee in Arabia is also 

 of the simplest and most primitive kind. When the 

 berries have been gathered they are carefully and assid- 

 uously picked over and separated by hand by experienced 

 pickers and sorters. So constant and frequent is this 

 selecting and separating process carried on, that a grad- 

 uation almost as regular as the degrees upon a map may 

 be discerned in the grades and qualities of Mocha coffee. 

 The operations of hulling and cleaning being performed 

 with the utmost seriousness and scrupulous exactness, 

 reminding one of the diligence ascribed to diamond 

 searchers and gold hunters, when sorting the torrent 

 sands for the minute but precious treasure. 



The coffee is dispatched by caravan from the interior 

 to the ports of Aden and Hodeida at almost every 

 season of the year, but principally in February, March 

 and April, the export consisting of crude and prepared 

 beans ; the former is dried in the husk, and is termed 

 by the Arabs "Jaffal coffee.'' The dealers are chiefly 



