MOCHA. 
347 
into bricks by the heat of the sun alone. The wooden materials 
very soon vanish in a country, where firing is extremely scarce, so 
that even the ruins of cities, which were celebrated for their mag- 
nificence in former times, may now be sought for in vain. 
The best houses are all facing the sea, and chiefly to the north 
of the Seagate. The British factory is a large and lofty building, 
but has most of the inconveniences of an Arab house. It is however 
far superior to the French or Danish factories, which are rapidly 
falling to decay. The lower order of Arabs live in huts, composed 
of wicker-work, covered on the inside with mats, and sometimes on 
the outside with a little clay. The roofs are uniformly thatched. 
A small yard is fenced off in front of each house; but this is too 
small to admit a circulation of air. It is singular that these habi- 
tations should be crowded close together, while a large part of the 
space within the walls is left unoccupied. 
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. Two forts are 
erected, for the protection of the harbour, on two points of land 
which project considerably into the sea, at about a mile and a half 
from each other. An English man of w^ar would level either to the 
ground with a single broadside. There are two other batteries 
within the town, but they are in a still more defenceless state. The 
guns on all these places are useless, except to return a salute. The 
Arabs, when they purchased them from infidels, considered them 
as Sheitan, or belonging to the devil, and therefore immediately 
VOL. II. Y Y 
