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Mokha

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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(Mocha, properly Makha), a town in Arabia on the Red Sea coast in 13° 19' N. and 43° 12' E. Formerly the chief port for the Yemen coffee export, it has much diminished in importance. The coffee grown in the mountain districts of Haraz, Uden, and Ta'iz is now shipped at Hodeda or Aden, though the article retains the trade name of "Mocha." The town lies in a small bay 40 m. N. of Perim at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. The anchorage is not good, and the port is only used by native vessels. Seen from the sea the town has rather an imposing appearance, but a near review shows that the houses, though large and built of stone are mostly in ruins. The neighbouring country is an arid plain without fresh water, the town being, supplied by an aqueduct from the village of Muza, situated 16 m. to the east. This is probably identical with the Muza of the Periplus, a great seat of the Red Sea trade in antiquity, which like Betel Fakih, Zubed and other old Tehama towns, formerly seaports, has long since been left by the receding sea. There is a Turkish kaimakam and a small garrison at Mokha, which is part of the civil district of Taiz in the vilayet of Yemen.