This, However, Is Not To Be Understood As Implying Any
Thing Favourable To The Character Of The Merchants, Who Are
As notorious
for their bad faith as they are for their large fortunes; but the nature
of the trade, and
The established usage, render it a less troublesome
and intriguing business here than in any other country of the East.
The commerce of Djidda may be divided into two principal branches - the
coffee trade, and the Indian trade; with both of which that of Egypt is
connected. Ships laden with coffee arrive from Yemen all the year round,
without being restricted to any particular season. During the voyage,
they sail constantly near the coast, and are thus enabled to take
advantage of the land breezes during the season when no[r]therly winds
prevail, and render the voyage difficult in mid-channel. They dispose of
their cargoes for dollars, which are almost the only article that the
merchants of Yemen take in return. The coffee trade is liable to great
fluctuations, and may be considered a species of lottery, in which those
only embark who have large capitals at their command, and who can bear
occasionally great losses. The price of coffee at Djidda, being
regulated by the advices from Cairo, varies almost with the arrival of
every ship from Suez. The price at the latter place depending upon the
demand for Mocha coffee in Turkey, is thus equally fluctuating. When I
arrived at Djidda, coffee-beans were at thirty-five dollars a hundred-
weight; three weeks after they fell to twenty-four dollars, in
consequence of the
[p.17] peace between England and America, and the expectation that West-
India coffee would be again imported in large quantities at Smyrna and
Constantinople.
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