MOCHA. 353 
he is able to squeeze from the Banians, and foreign merchants. The 
present Dola was a slave of the Vizier, but in consideration of his 
good conduct, he has received a title from the Imaum, and,- with it, 
his freedom. He is avaricious and tyrannical; but he has realised 
a considerable revenue for the Imaura, as well as secured a great 
treasure for himself. He invented a new method of extorting money 
from the Banians, by confining them in a room, and fumigating 
them with sulphur, till they complied with his demands. Mr. 
Pringle has frequently been obliged to complain at Sana of the ob- 
structions he has put in the way of commerce, and probably he will 
soon be recalled, and obliged to disgorge his plunder. The Arabs 
have a whimsical apologue on the subject. They say, that when a 
Dola is appointed, he weighs nothing; that on going out of the 
gates of Sana he weighs a frasel ; that on arriving at his government, 
he weighs two ; and goes on growing heavier and heavier, during 
his stay; but that he dwindles and dwindles as he returns, till the 
gates of Sana reduce him to his primitive leanness. 
The present Cadi is a most respectable character, and I am as- 
sured that he would consider it as an insult were a fee to be offered 
him. The consequence is, that Mocha is in general a peaceable 
town, and, during my whole residence there, no act of violence 
took place. The police is strict at night; and if any person should 
be found out of his house after the Dola has retired to rest, a period 
that is marked by the drums beating before his door, he would be 
conducted to prison. Opposite to the British factory is a collection 
of thatched huts, which answer this purpose, where a prisoner lives 
as comfortably as he can do in any part of the town. At present 
a large number of people are confined there, who quarrelled with 
