THE MOOHA BEKET. 61 



and other extraneous substances. A portion of that destined for 

 export finds its way to Aden, whence it is reshipped on passing 

 steamers. Captain Hunter, author of a monograph on Aden, 

 gives the following interesting account of coffee-cultivation in 

 Arabia : 



" There are three distinct states in its culture : 1st, the prep- 

 aration of the seed ; 2d, the sowing ; and 3d, the bedding out of 

 the plant. The seed is prepared by removing the shell or per- 

 icarp ; it is then mingled with wood-ashes and dried in the shade. 

 Seed thus prepared is frequently purchased by planters who seek 

 to avoid the trouble of preparation. The seed is planted in pre- 

 pared beds of rich soil, mingled with manure consisting of cattle 

 and sheep dung. The beds are covered with the branches of trees 

 to protect the young plants from the heat of the sun during Octo- 

 ber, I^ovember, and December. They are watered every six or 

 seven days. After about six or seven weeks the plants are careful- 

 ly removed from the ground in the early morning, placed in mat- 

 bags, and carried to the field or gardens, which are always in the 

 vicinity of springs of water. The plants are placed in rows, at 

 a distance of from two to three feet from each other, and are 

 watered every fortnight ; if necessary, the soil is manured. After 

 about two, or sometimes three, or even four years, the tree begins 

 to yield. The quantity of coffee brought to Aden, chiefly on the 

 backs of what Madame Kachel used to advertise as ' swift drom- 

 edaries,' now amounts to about eighty thousand hundred-weight 

 a year. About seven thousand camel-loads passed the barrier in 

 the year 1875-76. The value of coffee now exported is some- 

 thing over £300,000 a year, and of the fifty-seven thousand hun- 

 dred-weight exported in 1875-76 one-half went to France." 



The bulk of the supply is sent to London and Marseilles ; but 

 two or three of the leading importing houses in this country have 

 agents in Aden and Alexandria, who select and ship to Boston 

 and l^ew York the genuine Mocha, in addition to which there is 

 received a good deal that is only Mocha in name. Generally, the 

 coffee arrives here in large bales containing smaller packages, 

 styled eighth (forty pounds) and quarter bales (eighty pounds), pe- 

 ciiliar in shape and constructed of a coarse material, sewed with a 

 vegetable substance that becomes hard and excessively tough by 



