546 
MOCHA. 
by the Turkish Pacha during the time 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 by thin strata 
of a transparent stone, which is found in veins in a mountain near 
Sana. 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 an European. The floors, as 
well as the roofs of the larger houses, are made of chunam, which is 
sustained by beams, with pieces of plank, or thin sticks of wood, laid 
across, and close to each other. As they never use a level, the 
floors are extremely uneven ; but this is a trifling inconvenience 
to people who never use chairs or tables, but are always reclin- 
ing on couches, supported on every side by cushions. The internal 
construction of their houses is uniformly bad. The passages are 
long and narrow, and the staircases so steep that it is frequently 
difficult to mount them. At the Dola's, numerous doors are well 
secured on the landing places, to prevent any sudden hostile attack. 
Little lime is used in any of their buildings; a constant care is 
therefore necessary to prevent the introduction of moisture ; but 
with caution they last for many years. If however a house is 
neglected, it speedily becomes a heap of rubbish ; the walls return- 
ing to their original state of mud, from which they had been formed 
