154 



CIVIL HISTORY AND 



veille, with the French deputation from St Malo, 

 had visited Mocha in 1708, and obtained a treaty of 

 commerce and the establishment of a factory for his 

 countrymen ; previous to which time, the only fo- 

 reign settlement in the town belonged to the Dutch. 



It was not till the year 1618 that Captain Shilling 

 of the Royal Anne obtained a firman from the Imam 

 of Sanaa and the Governor of Mocha, granting to the 

 English, " on the faith of the Prophet's beard, liberty 

 to sell and buy without let or molestation in that or 

 any other port within their dominions." Twenty 

 years afterwards the French bombarded the town, in 

 order to extort payment of a debt of 82,000 crowns 

 (18,620) from the dowlah, which they obliged 

 him to reimburse ; besides reducing the duties from 

 three to two and a half per cent. During this tem- 

 porary warfare, the trade of the English and Dutch, 

 who had formed a union of interests, remained in 

 perfect security. Several of the Arabs in Niebuhr's 

 time recollected the siege, and were well pleased at 

 the punishment of the avaricious dowlah, whom 

 they represented as pursued backwards and forwards 

 wherever he went with " pots of fire." This was 

 the last city in Yemen of which the Turks re- 

 tained possession; the Arabs having recovered it, 

 according to report, not by conquest, but by pur- 

 chase. Since the Ottomans were dislodged, it has 

 had no other master than the Imam of Sanaa. 



In the present century Mocha has been described 

 by various Europeans. Viewed from a distance, the 

 town looks handsome and cheerful, the houses seem 

 lofty, and have a square solid appearance. Their 

 unvaried whiteness contrasts beautifully with the 

 dark-blue sea, and, no shrub or tree intervening to 



