40 
Manufac- 
ture of 
Cojfee 
EGYPT. 
was sent in presents to England. One of the 
most curious sights in Rosetta was the manufac- 
ture of this article. After roasting the coffee, it 
is pounded in immense iron mortars ; three 
Arabs working at a time, with enormous pestles, 
each as large as a man can raise. The capacity 
of the bottom of the mortar being only equal to 
the reception of one of these at a time, the pes- 
tles are raised according to the measure of an 
air sung by an attendant Arab, who sits near to 
the mortar. The main purport of this curious 
accompaniment of their labour is, to prevent 
the hand and arm of a boy, kneeling by the 
mortar, from being crushed to atoms. The 
boy's arm is always within the mortar, which 
allows room for each pestle to pass in turn 
without bruising him, if he place it in time 
against the side of the vessel; but, as after 
every stroke he must stir up the powder at the 
bottom with his fingers, if the precise period of 
each blow were not marked by the measure of 
the song, his arm v/ould be struck off. Intoxi- 
cation, happily, is a vice with which Arabs are 
unacquainted ; or else, the constant attention of 
a whole party, thus employed, being necessary 
for the safety of the poor child, it may be con- 
ceived what the consequences of drunkenness 
would be, in a manufactory where many of 
