358 MOCHA. 
keep up an incessant braying, particularly if any noise in the night 
excite their attention. The horses are, in the day tijme, brought 
out into the streets, where they are fastened by their hind legs 
with chains to the ground, and by the head to the wall, so that it 
requires some precaution to pass between them, and still more to 
enter the gates of the factory, from the crowd of children belong- 
ing to the stable-keepers, who demand, rather than petition for, 
chanty. The horses of Arabia are celebrated for their superior 
qualities, and certainly I saw some at Mocha of uncommon beauty, 
particularly about the head and neck. The Imaum is the only 
horse-dealer in his dominions, and these were his property, being 
sent down to Mocha for sale. The price rarely exceeds one 
thousand dollars. The Arab system of riding totally destroys a 
horse in a very short time. He is taught only to walk, canter, 
or gallop, as at the menage; and when at full speed is made to stop 
short by means of a strong bit, which ruins his mouth in a year or 
two, while the force employed throws him on his haunches, and 
very frequently founders him at an early age. The asses are of two 
species ; the one has a stripe of black down the shoulders, and cross 
bands of black on the legs ; the other is like the Spanish, and as 
fine a breed ; the mules are consequently very handsome. 
The climate of Mocha is more sultry than any I have yet ex- 
perienced, in consequence of its vicinity to the arid sands of Africa, 
over which the S. E. wind blows for so long a continuance, as not 
to be cooled in its short passage over the sea below the straits of 
Bab-el-mandeb. This monsoon continues above eight months in 
the year with such force, as frequently to render all communica- 
tion between the vessels in the road, and the shore, impossible. For 
