Page 121 - Arabian Studies (I)

The Diary of a Mocha Coffee Agent 105

No record exists of Mr. Hanys’s first impressions of Bait al-Faqlh,
but thirty-three years later the famous Danish explorer Niebuhr was
to describe the scene:4
There were only a few stone-built houses; the majority of the
population lived in straw huts in random confusion in the narrow
dusty street, where the coffee traders passed by; only the most
essential provisions were to be found in the market, and drinking
water was in short supply.

6 to 13 April
Mr. Hanys appears to have wasted no time in starting to carry out his
commission. By 13 April 188 bales of coffee had been dispatched by
camel to Mocha.5 Mr. Hanys also advises Mr. Dickinson that he and
the French Second are purchasing jointly to keep down the price of
coffee.

14 to 18 April
By the 18th April, Mr. Dickinson has a stockpile of 1,058 bales of
coffee in Mocha. Mr. Hanys has meanwhile checked the Custom
House scales at Bait al-Faqlh and found them to be in order. As to
coffee marketing, Mr. Dickinson is advised:
There are still Three Grabs loading with Coffee at Hudida who
have most of their cargoes on board. The remainder will be bought
in four or five Days, when the Merchants will have done buying‘till
after the Hodge (Hajj) Feast which falls on the 13th May. We and
the French shall then be the only purchasers and by all accounts a
good deal may be expected to come to market, there being
considerable quantitys up Country.
2
A suggestion to Mr. Hanys by the French Second in Bait al-Faqlh
is also made to the effect that the French should buy coffee
separately until the Pondicherry cargo was completed, after which
the market would be open to the English. Mr. Dickinson turns down
the suggestion, stating that, if it is agreed to:
‘we shall get but little coffee in readiness for our expected Ship,
which in all probability may arrive in less than twenty Days, and if
we deferred purchasing we should not have half One Ship’s load­
ing ready.
Further to this, Mr. Dickinson suggests that, although plenty
of coffee may be expected,